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Bushfire Warnings
The PREPARE.ACT.SURVIVE Bushfire Survival Plan is full of information that will help you to prepare your home and your family for bushfire season. It will assist you in making the decision to stay or to leave and will outline the steps you need to take as a result of your decision.
Please take time to sit down with your family and discuss your bushfire survival plan and what steps you will take to PREPARE.ACT.SURVIVE. this bushfire season.
Bushfire Survival Plan
Whether you live in the city, on the urban fringe or in regional or rural Queensland, it is essential you have a Bushfire Survival Plan.
Your bushfire survival plan details how you’ll prepare and what action you will take if threatened by a bushfire. A well-prepared home has an increased chance of survival in a bushfire.
During a large-scale event, Queensland Fire and Rescue Service (QFRS) will not be able to place a fire truck at every property so it is therefore even more important to have a solid plan in place.
Fire Safety and You
The Rural Fire Service Queensland is committed to creating and improving the safety and resilience of Queensland Communities, however we need your help.
To improve your safety, you need to be well-informed about the dangers posed by fire in your own environment – at home, at work and at play.
Understanding fire safety, taking steps to prevent fires occurring, and acting appropriately when fires break out, will help protect you, your loved ones and your valuable possessions.
Australian Fire Danger Rating System
The purpose of the Australian Fire Danger Rating System (AFDRS) is to provide an efficient and easy to understand way to communicate fire danger broadly to the community.
Fire danger is rated as
-
MODERATE: Plan and Prepare
- HIGH: Be Ready to Act
- EXTREME: Take Action Now to protect life and property
- CATASTROPHIC: For your survival, Leave Bushfire Risk Areas
Daily forecasted fire danger ratings will be shown on roadside signs (in jurisdictions where they are installed), emergency services websites, the Bureau of Meteorology webpage and are broadcast where required through media such as tv, radio, newspapers and the internet.
Fire Danger Ratings will be used as a trigger for the level of advice and messaging to the community when a fire starts. There will be three types of alert messages:
- Bushfire Advice: A fire or other emergency has started in the area however there is no immediate threat. Advice messages will keep people informed and up to date with developments on a fire.
- Bushfire Watch and Act: There is a heightened level of threat, you need to be aware of your situation and take action to be prepared and protect yourself and your family.
- Bushfire Emergency Warning: You are in danger and need to take immediate action recommended by the fire service. Emergency Warnings, accompanied by the siren sound (State Emergency Warning Signal), will be activated to advise that you must take action immediately, you will be impacted by the fire.
Learn More about the AFDRS
Useful Links & Resources
Bushfire Preparation Checklist
This bushfire preparation checklist will help you prepare your business for a bushfire.
Knowing your business has strategies in place to help cope with a natural disaster like a bushfire should make it easier for your business to minimise losses, maintain business continuity and recover quickly.
Read through this bushfire preparation checklist and click ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to find out if your business is prepared. Any questions you answer ‘No’ to will be the actions you need to complete to ensure your business is as prepared for a severe storm as possible. Read More
Source: Business Queensland
My Fire Watch
MyFireWatch is an online map-based tool that provides important information about hotspots to emergency service managers and the general public.
FireWatch is a suite of fire monitoring products, services and solutions developed by Landgate’s Imagery team. FireWatch uses satellite imagery to detect and report on hotspots as they are observed and monitor their subsequent effect on the land.
It is not intended to be used to make decisions about active fires.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES)
The QFES aims to protect person, property and the environment through the delivery of emergency services, awareness programs, response capability and capacity (preparedness), and incident response and recovery for a safer Queensland.
Fire Weather Knowledge Centre (BOM)
Weather conditions influence the size, intensity, speed and predictability of bushfires and how dangerous they can be.
Australia’s Bushfire Seasons
Very little of our continent is free from fires. Dry spells create a high fire risk, particularly after good rain has encouraged lush growth. Even arid regions experience scrub fires in years when good wet season rains are followed by a long dry spell.
Weather systems work differently across Australia’s temperate and tropical regions. Severe bushfire conditions are influenced by a combination of these systems, but in most cases by hot, dry winds blowing from central Australia. The dry summer months are the danger time for southern Australia, while northern Australia is at risk during winter.
Source: BOM
Use this resource to check the drop down list below to check if there is a fire ban in place in your Local Government Area.
Camp fires, fuel stoves and barbecues
Camp fires are allowed in some Queensland parks and forests—it is good idea to bring a portable fuel stove or use on-site barbecues which are provided at many camping areas.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services on Facebook
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services on YouTube
Get Ready Queensland
When it comes to extreme weather events in Queensland, it’s not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when‘. Get Ready Queensland is a year-round program helping all Queenslanders prepare for natural disasters. Being prepared before a disaster hits could be the difference between staying safe or putting yourself and those you love in danger.
Source: Get Ready Queensland
