Take five to get fire-ready

FROM snakes and spiders to sharks, Australia is home to plenty of dangers, but one of the biggest threats can come from the landscape itself: bushfires. 

Bushfires can start with little warning, making preparation essential to protecting yourself, your family and your property. 

SA Country Fire Service regional prevention officer Michael Scholich said bushfires were an inevitable part of living in South Australia. 

“So you just have to deal with the fact that fires are a part of what we have to live with here in South Australia,” Mr Scholich said. 

“It’s important that people are doing their prevention activities.”

Prevention activities look different for everyone, and Mr Scholich said that there was a lot people can do. 

Having a bushfire plan is one way to prepare, including deciding what to do if a fire threatens and identifying escape routes before an emergency occurs. 

“If you’ve got a plan, you can act rationally instead of just on the spur of the moment, and that really helps communities stay safe in the event of a fire,” Mr Scholich said.  

Other prevention measures include cleaning out gutters and maintaining an asset protection zone around the home by managing dry vegetation and other combustible material.

Mr Scholich said preparation was particularly important this season, with conditions expected to pose a greater-than-usual fire risk and the fire danger season
already begun.

“There is an earlier start to the fire danger season, and that is likely to do with the El Niño that we are experiencing,” he said. 

“So, we are having hotter on average and drier on average conditions.”

Earlier rainfall and favourable growing conditions have also increased the amount of vegetation available to fuel fires.

“It created a very bountiful harvest, but it also comes along with a bit of risk,” Mr Scholich said. 

He made a point that the preparation you do now can be very significant later on, and it could be the difference between a fire that could impact 100 or 1000 people. 

Residents can create a personalised bushfire plan using the CFS’s five-minute online planning tool, helping them decide what to do before a fire threatens their property.

Amarli Wight