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Helping others prepare
It is really important that you prepare for, and know what to do during a bush fire. Knowing what to do could save your life and the lives of your family members and pets. There will never be as many fire trucks as there are homes so you cannot assume that one will be available to help you protect your home during a large bush fire. We need you to help protect your community by making sure you are prepared and have a current Bush Fire Survival Plan.
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What does the NSW Rural Fire Service do in winter?
During winter the NSW Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS) will continue to do hazard reduction burns when the conditions are favourable. These burns are designed to reduce fuel (such as dry leaves, sticks and grass) for fires and help protect lives and property from bush fires. Hazard reductions won’t stop bush fires from starting, but can help reduce the intensity of a fire. We also visit properties to approve plans to burn cut and stacked logs, branches, leaves and weeds.
We encourage communities to get prepared for the next Bush Fire Season. The Season officially starts on 1 October 2012, with some variation depending on conditions in your area. This means there is only three months left to get your homes and yourselves prepared for bush fires. Read about the final steps for preparing the area around your home in the article “Preparing your property: jobs for winter”. Do you have a Bush Fire Survival Plan? Have you discussed it with your family? Do you have an Emergency Survival Kit, and if so, have you checked that batteries are charged, and emergency water and food supplies are still in date? Don’t forget to look at the article in this newsletter on preparing your children for bush fires.
The NSW RFS also uses winter to check supplies, and make sure that all our machinery and equipment is in good working order. It’s a good time for you to do the same, or perhaps learn to use the pump that you’ve bought ‘just in case’.
There is a real risk of grass fires next bush fire season because of the grass growth over the previous summer. Check out this factsheet to find out about the risks of grass fires and how to reduce them.
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No Plan Dan: The dribbling hose
Ok so what has been going on in No Plan Dan’s head?
He hasn’t really planned and prepared for the bush fire season. Sure, he’ll tell you he has a plan, but it won’t be fully thought through. It won’t be written down, even though the NSW Rural Fire Service has been handing out Bush Fire Survival Plans for several years. No Plan Dan actually has two of them, one in a drawer in his home office and the newer one hanging on the side of the filing cabinet, untouched since the day he put them there.
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Fire Danger Ratings
Most of you will have seen the colourful Fire Danger Rating indicator boards on the side of highways or in town near the local Fire Control Centre or Rural Fire Brigade station.
The NSW Rural Fire Service looks at temperature, humidity, wind, vegetation and whether an area is experiencing drought. Based on those conditions we then assess how a fire might behave, how difficult it might be to control and what the potential impact of the fire might be on the community.
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Preparing your property: jobs for winter
Hopefully you’ve been able to start on some of the improvements we talked about in the autumn issue of Firewise eNews. It is important that you seal gaps around your windows and doors and in the eaves of your roof to stop embers blowing in and starting a fire that could lead to you losing your home.
There are some jobs you need to do regularly throughout the year.
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Creating fire breaks against grass fires
Whether you have a broadacre cropping property or two hectares on the edge of town, you need to consider creating fire breaks to reduce the risk of damage from grass fires.
Fire breaks provide access for vehicles during bush fires, can isolate flammable crops or other vegetation, and slow the progress or reduce the intensity of a fire. They are usually placed around crops, along fence lines, around the home, outbuildings and haystacks, beneath powerlines and adjacent to roads and railways.
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Prepare your children for bush fires
It can be difficult enough for adults to decide what to do when faced with a bush fire, but add in confused and frightened children and there is a whole lot more to think about. Children rely on routine. They know what happens when they wake up, eat breakfast, go to school, and come home again. As soon as that routine is disrupted, they can become anxious and will look to parents or other responsible adults for guidance. Children will cope better when a bush fire occurs if they know exactly what they have to do and where they have to go.
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