Fire Safety
The following information has been prepared and provided by the Tasmania Fire Service.
The general fire information is relivant to Tasmania but the videos provide good information for the public.
The information is however general and it is advised to refer to other sections of this Rural Fire Service webpage for local information.
Bushfire: Prepare Act Survive
If you live in or near the bush, your home is at risk from bushfire. Bush includes bushland, scrub, grassland, farmland, heath, marram grass and buttongrass.
You should use these pages to guide you through the steps necessary to prepare your home so it can be defended against most bushfires.
Most bushfires in Tasmania occur during relatively mild summer weather and are easily controlled by firefighters. However, bushfires that break out on very hot, dry and windy days can spread rapidly and may be difficult or impossible for firefighters to control. These fires can burn large areas of forest and farmland, destroy homes and livestock, and sometimes kill and injure people.
A properly prepared home is more likely to survive a bushfire than one that hasn't been prepared, and the chances increase significantly if able-bodied people are there to protect your home.
Properly prepared and defended homes can provide a safe haven during almost all bushfires.
However, Tasmania Fire Service recommends that you should not plan to defend your home when the fire danger rating exceeds 50 (severe) in your area unless you have created a defendable space and ember-proofed your home.
Tasmania Fire Service recommends that you should not plan to defend your home when the fire danger rating exceeds 75 (extreme) in your area unless your home has a defendable space and has been designed and built specifically to withstand a bushfire.
Tasmania Fire Service recommends that you should not plan to defend your home on days when the fire danger rating exceeds 100 (catastrophic) in your area, even if your home has a defendable space and has been designed and built specifically to withstand a bushfire.
Daily fire danger rating forecasts are available during the bushfire season here, and in Tasmania's three daliy newspapers.
Exceptions to these rules are when firefighters have assessed (triaged) your home on the day a fire is threatening it, and have advised you that it may be defendable. This recognises that even on days with severe, extreme or catastrophic fire danger ratings, some well-prepared and constructed homes may be defendable due to their location. For example, a home surrounded by several hectares of ripening crops, ploughed fields or heavily-grazed paddocks may be safe to defend.
However, the safest option always is to leave before a fire threatens your home. If you are not staying to defend your property, you should plan to leave early. Many people have died in bushfires because they have tried to relocate too late, and have been trapped and burnt in their cars or on foot. Fewer lives will be lost if people who choose to leave do so well before a bushfire threatens their home.
If you plan to be Using Fire Outdoors, be careful and check to see if a fire permit period has been declared.
New Fire Danger Ratings
New Fire Danger Ratings
What to expect and what to do when fire breaks out when the following conditions are forecast by the Bureau of Meteorology
The National Bushfire Warnings Taskforce, established following the Victorian bushfires of February 2009, developed a new fire danger rating system for bushfires.
The new system alerts the community to new forecast fire danger levels, and guides peoples' responses to forecast conditions, and when fires are burning.
A guide as to what to expect and what to do when different fire danger ratings are forecast is included below.
During the bushfire season, daily fire danger ratings forecasts for Tasmania will be available on the Tasmania Fire Service website and on the weather pages of Tasmania’s daily newspapers.
Catastrophic Fire Danger Rating (FDR >100)
Leaving early is the safest option for your survival - regardless of any plans to stay and defend your property.
Most fires breaking out today will spread rapidly and be uncontrollable. There is a high likelihood that people in the path of a fire will be killed or seriously injured. Many homes are very likely to be destroyed. Even the best prepared homes will not be safe today.
Tasmania Fire Service recommends that you should not plan to defend any home when the fire danger rating exceeds 100 (catastrophic), regardless of any preparations you have made, unless firefighters have assessed your home as defendable in the prevailing conditions.
If you live in or near bushland, the Tasmania Fire Service recommends that you prepare immediately to leave for a safe place. Leave if fire breaks out or is burning near you, and well before fire threatens your home.
Listen for warnings on ABC Local Radio or check the TFS website at www.fire.tas.gov.au to find out where fires are burning. Power, water supplies and phones are likely to fail in a bushfire. If power fails, listen to fire updates on your car radio.
Frequently check conditions outside your home. If smoke is blowing towards you, a fire is approaching and you should leave immediately by a safe route, away from the fire. Don’t wait for an official warning. If ash or burning embers are landing in your yard, the fire is very close and it may be too late to leave. If it is too late to leave, take shelter in your home. Fill your bath and all available containers with water, and actively defend your home by using the water to put out any parts of your home that catch fire. Alternatively and if time permits, go immediately to a nearby safe place.
Don’t expect a fire truck or other emergency workers at your home during the fire.
Extreme Fire Danger Rating (FDR 75-99)
Some fires breaking out today will spread rapidly and be uncontrollable. People in the path of a fire may be killed or seriously injured. Many homes are very likely to be destroyed.
Leaving early is the safest option for your survival. Only well-constructed, well-prepared and actively defended homes are likely to offer safety during a fire.
Unless your home has a defendable space and has been designed and built specifically to withstand a bushfire, you should not plan to defend it if the fire danger rating exceeds 75 (extreme), unless firefighters have assessed your home as defendable in the prevailing conditions.
If you live in or near bushland and don’t plan to defend your home, the Tasmania Fire Service recommends that you prepare immediately to leave for a safe place. Leave if fire breaks out or is burning near you, and well before fire threatens your home.
Listen to ABC Local Radio or check the TFS website at www.fire.tas.gov.au to find out where fires are burning. Power, water supplies and phones are likely to fail in a bushfire. If power fails, listen to fire updates on your car radio.
Frequently check conditions outside your home. If smoke is blowing towards you, a fire is approaching. If planning to leave, you should leave immediately by a safe route, away from the fire. Don’t wait for an official warning. If ash or burning embers are landing in your yard, the fire is very close and it may be too late to leave. If this is the case, take shelter in your home. Fill your bath and all available containers with water, and actively defend your home by using the water to put out any parts of your home that catch fire. Alternatively and if time permits, go immediately to a nearby safe place.
Don’t expect a fire truck or other emergency workers at your home during the fire.
Severe Fire Danger Rating (FDR 50-74)
Some fires breaking out today will spread rapidly and be uncontrollable. People in the path of a fire may be killed or seriously injured. Some homes are likely to be destroyed.
Leaving early is the safest option for your survival. However, well-prepared and actively defended homes can offer safety during a fire.
Tasmania Fire Service recommends that you should not plan to defend your home when the fire danger rating exceeds 50 (severe), unless firefighters have assessed your home as defendable in the prevailing conditions.
If you live in or near bushland and don’t plan to defend your home, the Tasmania Fire Service recommends that you prepare to leave for a safe place. Leave well before fire threatens your home.
Listen to ABC Local Radio or check the TFS website at www.fire.tas.gov.au to find out where fires are burning. Power, water supplies and phones are likely to fail in a bushfire. If power fails, listen to fire updates on your car radio.
Frequently check conditions outside your home. If smoke is blowing towards you, a fire is approaching. If planning to leave, you should leave immediately by a safe route, away from the fire. Don’t wait for an official warning. If ash or burning embers are landing in your yard, the fire is very close and it may be too late to leave. If this is the case, take shelter in your home. Fill your bath and all available containers with water, and actively defend your home by using the water to put out any parts of your home that catch fire. Alternatively and if time permits, go immediately to a nearby safe place.
Don’t expect a fire truck or other emergency workers at your home during the fire.
Very High Fire Danger Rating (FDR 25-49)
Some fires breaking out today will spread rapidly and be difficult to control. There is a possibility that people in the path of a fire will be killed or seriously injured. Some homes may be destroyed. However, well-prepared and actively defended homes can offer safety during a fire.
Unless you have created a defendable space around your home, Tasmania Fire Service recommends that you should not plan to defend it when the fire danger rating exceeds 25 (very high), unless firefighters have assessed your home as defendable in the prevailing conditions.
If you live in or near bushland and don’t plan to defend your home, the Tasmania Fire Service recommends that you prepare to leave for a safe place. Leave well before fire threatens your home.
Listen to ABC Local Radio or check the TFS website at www.fire.tas.gov.au to find out where fires are burning. Power, water supplies and phones are likely to fail in a bushfire. If power fails, listen to fire updates on your car radio.
Frequently check conditions outside your home. If smoke is blowing towards you, a fire is approaching. If planning to leave, you should leave immediately by a safe route, away from the fire. Don’t wait for an official warning. If ash or burning embers are landing in your yard, the fire is very close and it may be too late to leave. If this is the case, take shelter in your home. Fill your bath and all available containers with water, and actively defend your home by using the water to put out any parts that catch fire. Alternatively and if time permits, go immediately to a nearby safe place.
Don’t expect a fire truck or other emergency workers at your home during the fire.
High Fire Danger Rating (FDR 12-24)
Fires breaking out today can be controlled. People in the path of a fire are unlikely to be killed or seriously injured if they take shelter. Well-prepared and actively defended homes can offer safety during a fire.
If you live in or near bushland and don’t plan to defend your home, the Tasmania Fire Service recommends that you prepare to leave for a safe place. Leave well before fire threatens your home.
Monitor the fire situation on ABC Local Radio or the TFS website at www.fire.tas.gov.au . Power and water supplies and phones may fail in a bushfire. If power fails, listen to fire updates on your car radio.
Frequently check conditions outside your home. If smoke is blowing towards you, a fire is approaching and if planning to leave, you should leave immediately by a safe route, away from the fire.
Low - Moderate Fire Danger Rating (FDR 0-11)
Fires breaking out today can be controlled easily. There is little risk to people and property.
Make sure you, your family and your property are well-prepared for the risk of bushfire.
Will I Stay or Will I Go?
After preparing your home for bushfire and well before a bushfire breaks out, you should decide whether you will leave early or stay and defend your home if a fire threatens. Preparing a bushfire survival plan will help you decide.
Before making a decision, consider the following principles:
• the safest option is always to leave early rather than to stay and defend,
• not all homes are defendable in all circumstances and you are advised to undertake an individual assessment of the defendability of your home,
• unless a property is defendable you should leave early,
• you should consider the impact of topography, fire weather and fire intensity on the defendability of your home. Your home may be defendable when the fire danger rating is say, ‘very high’, but undefendable when the fire danger rating is say, ‘severe’.
• the risks of staying to defend include the risk of physical injury and death,
• contingencies are needed as the best-made plans may fail, and
• even if you plan to stay, you should make preparations to leave, including the preparation of a ‘relocation kit' specifying the location of community fire refuges and other places you may go to.
You should also consider the psychological impacts of staying to defend your home. It is inadvisable for children to be present during the defence of properties, and practical steps are needed to protect the vulnerable. Families with young children, older people, and disabled people should plan to leave early. You should appreciate the dangers of leaving late, and understand that a warning may not be received.
Staying to protect a properly prepared home against most bushfires is a safe option for physically and mentally fit people.
However, Tasmania Fire Service recommends that you should not plan to defend your home when the fire danger rating exceeds 50 (severe) in your area unless you have created a defendable space and ember-proofed your home.
Tasmania Fire Service recommends that you should not plan to defend your home when the fire danger rating exceeds 75 (extreme) in your area unless your home has a defendable space and has been designed and built specifically to withstand a bushfire.
Tasmania Fire Service recommends that you should not plan to defend your home on days when the fire danger rating exceeds 100 (catastrophic) in your area, even if your home has a defendable space and has been designed and built specifically to withstand a bushfire.
Exceptions to these rules are when firefighters have assessed (triaged) your home on the day a fire is threatening it, and have advised you that it may be defendable. This recognises that even on days with severe, extreme or catastrophic fire danger ratings, some well-prepared and constructed homes may be defendable due to their location. For example, a home surrounded by several hectares of ripening crops, ploughed fields or heavily-grazed paddocks may be safe to defend.
Even for less intense fires, if your home has not been properly prepared and radiant heat from nearby vegetation makes it difficult to defend and unsafe to shelter inside, it will be safer to leave early for a safe place.
Regardless of how well prepared your home may be, leaving early may also be the better option for young children, elderly or disabled people, people who are not physically fit, and people who do not feel comfortable about staying.
PEOPLE SHOULD NOT FLEE AT THE LAST MINUTE.
If you're going to defend your home and are likely to be away when a bushfire breaks out, you need to have a means of learning about the fire. When bushfires are likely to break out, you should regularly monitor the TFS website Current Bushfires and Incidents, or the emergency broadcaster ABC Local Radio, and have made plans for returning home.
These Tasmanian homes are well prepared for bushfire
This information has been prepared and provided by the Tasmania Fire Service.
The general fire information is relivant to Tasmania but the videos provide good information for the public in our local area.
The information is however general and it is advised to refer to other sections of this Rural Fire Service webpage for local information.
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