Residents are urged to make a plan and clean up their houses before fire strikes.
By Tania Martin
IT’S time to make a plan and be prepared for the threat of bushfires.
The CFA has warned residents that smoke and flames could be the first sign they have of imminent danger.
Community education co-ordinator Geoff Deacon said in most cases people wouldn’t know there was a fire until they saw the smoke and flames approaching.
“Many think the CFA has enough firefighters and trucks to warn each resident individually of pending danger,”
“But on days of high fire-risk, firefighters will be fully occupied monitoring conditions and fighting fires across Victoria … it’s impossible to knock on every door and give personal warnings.”
Mr Deacon is urging those living in bush land areas to be well prepared and stay on full alert on high fire-risk days.
He said people need to decide now to either stay and fight or leave early in the case of a fire.
“This isn’t a five-minute walk around the house and the occasional clearing of leaves from your gutters,” he said.
“It’s a well thought out, practiced plan, evaluating every aspect of your home.”
As part of a plan residents needed to decide if they were going to leave early or stay and defend their homes.
Mr Deacon said although there were many who had successfully stayed to defend their properties, it was not without danger.
He said defending a home could take many hours of physical work under fairly strenuous conditions.
“You need to be physically and emotionally able to cope,” Mr Deacon said.
“Even if you decide to leave early you may be forced to stay if a fire threatens your home quickly and you need to know what to do if this happens.”
Mr Deacon said residents should listen to the local and ABC radio for the most up to date reports in the case of a bush fire.
He said it was also vital to watch out for smoke to assess the need to stay or leave.
Residents can find out how to prepare a plan by ringing the Victorian Bushfire Information Line on 1800 240 667 or visiting www.cfa.vic.gov.au
