Disaster Preparedness

Develop an Emergency Plan

How to Develop an Emergency Plan

Take sensible precautions

• Make sure your home and workplace are prepared for hazards and emergencies. Refer to appropriate information and action guides.
• Check that you have adequate household and contents insurance and which hazards are not covered by it.
• Find out how and where to turn off power, gas and water supplies.
• Store important documents (eg wills, passports, photos, birth certificates) in a fire/water-proof container or safe deposit box.
• Keep a list of emergency telephone numbers near the phone eg Police, Fire, Ambulance, State/Territory Emergency Service, Local Council, and Other - gas, electricity, relative.

Involve the family

• Household members will need to agree on, and share essential tasks (eg contacting each other if not home, collecting school children and checking on elderly neighbours).
• Arrange an out-of-town friend or relative to be a single contact point (in case people are separated before or during a widespread emergency).

Find out about existing plans

• Schools and large buildings should have plans in place for emergency evacuations.
• Local authorities may also have plans affecting whole streets or areas.

Be prepared for evacuation

In some emergencies the safest action is to stay inside. But in other emergencies it can be safer to leave a building or evacuate an entire area. The appropriate action depends on the particular hazard causing the emergency. Consult the relevant information and action guides, and follow advice from emergency authorities.

• When evacuating a building, it is important to agree in advance on a gathering place at a safe distance.
• Practise evacuation procedures, including a head count.
• Large buildings should have evacuation plans in place.
• If you decide or are advised to evacuate the area, leave as early as possible - even hours before, in the case of bushfires. It may be safer to stay with your home, provided you are well prepared.
• Allow for special needs of infants, the aged and people with disabilities.
• Have your car under cover, with a full fuel tank, and plan for alternative safe routes.

Three golden rules if you do leave

• Turn off power, gas, water; lock doors and windows.
• Listen for emergency warnings and safety advice on radio or television. Pay special attention if you hear the Standard Emergency Warning Signal (SEWS).

Livestock and Bushfire Preparation

The Department of Primary Industries (DPI) has issued a range of advice for a livestock bushfire plan.

The core of a livestock fire plan is a designated low risk area to which livestock can be moved. Cattle are adept at moving to avoid fire, so they may be kept in low risk paddocks with relative safety. However the mobbing instincts of sheep may prevent movement away from a fire if kept in the open, so more confined areas may be more suitable.

The DPI reminds landholders that if a fire is on or near their property, they should as a minimum, open all internal gates to allow stock to move themselves out of the fire path where possible.

Other fire plan aspects include:

Cultivated paddocks

Areas specifically cultivated and kept clear of regrowth to afford protection from fire. These paddocks must be centrally located and easy to access.

Bared-out paddocks

These are paddocks that have been systematically grazed in spring and early summer to reduce dry feed can provide a low risk area. If available, the differing grazing habits of cattle and sheep can be used to help reduce the available feed in the designated paddocks to an absolute minimum.

Green paddocks

This can include irrigated paddocks or paddocks containing green summer crops. It is known that green feed will not burn as readily as dry feed and, by allowing livestock access to such areas, will allow good protection.

Yards

Utilising sheep yards as a safe area can be useful if time allows. However, extra care should be taken in preparation for the coming fire front. Wetting down the surrounds, and extensive fire breaks around the yards, are recommended.

Sheep often refuse to move once the conditions get very hot so they should be moved early in the day.

Horses should be mustered into bare non-combustible yards to minimise the risk of them panicking and injuring themselves if they attempt to escape through fences in the face of a wildfire.

All low risk areas should be further protected by firebreaks, and be free of litter build-up. Thought should be put into the preferred location, and should take into account terrain, accessibility, the direction the fire threat is most likely to come from, prevailing winds in the summer months, and location of forests and bushland. Farms with large numbers of sheep and cattle may need to designate and manage several areas on the property as safe areas.