Prepare and plan this summer to be #FireReady

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This post is sponsored by Nuffnang.

I adore summer. I love days when the temperature is in the 30s and the sun is shining brightly. Up until a little while into January though this year, I thought we were going to completely miss summer.

But then the heat came, multiple days of 40 degrees Celsius. It did not take long for the green around us to start to fade and turn yellow and become very dry.

On the final day of the week of 40s I remember driving in the car and listening to ABC Local. The were supposed to be covering a cricket match, but as the emergency radio station they were providing important information about fires that were happening around the state of Victoria. Halls Gap residents had been advised to leave their homes and those holidaying in the area were advised to leave too.

On the same day as Halls Gap was being advised to evacuate, the urban fringe of Melbourne had small fires as well. On the radio they were advising of road closures, public transport changes and Watch and Act messages being issued by Country Fire Authority.

Unbelievable as it may seem, many of these fires were deliberately lit. In fire season when conditions are ripe for grass fires, bushfire arson like this can be devastating to communities. If you see something suspicious, it is important to report it to Victoria Police.

So whether you live in the country or in suburbs, it is important that during fire season you make sure you are #FireReady. Just because we don’t live in the bush doesn’t mean we don’t have think about bushfires.

Preparing for fire season

Last year you might remember I undertook a #FireReady Challenge. It was tough to get everything together in 10 minutes and it was a great lesson in planning for me.

#FireReady Challenge: Pack and Evacuate in 10 minutes

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#FireReady Challenge: Nicole’s Reflection

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Resources to help you get #FireReady

The CFA however has fantastic resources to help you safely through the fire season. On their website you can download the Fire Ready Kit. It is a comprehensive document designed to help you plan for survival, beginning with the basics of preparing before the fire season, through to planning what to do if fire is in your area and you cannot leave.

You can download the entire document (75+pages) or individual sections as follows by clicking here:

Introduction – Am I at Risk?
Your bushfire plan: The basics
On fire risk days: Leaving early
During a fire: If you cannot leave
Staying informed
Preparing your property
Defending your property
Bushfire survival planning template – Leaving early
Bushfire survival planning template – Defending your property

The document is like a workbook and you can go through each section to make sure you are adequately prepared – so much better to do it when there is not an active emergency.

What you need to have on hand is not complex, but having an emergency kit ready to go at any moment means you will be in a much better position to cope in case of an emergency.

There is also the FireReady App which you can download for free for either Android or iPhone. The app provides real time updates to information on bushfires and emergency warnings information for Victoria

Victoria also has a new website for emergency warnings – Vic Emergency. Save this as a bookmark/favourtie on your home computers, work computers and mobile devices. It is important to be able to have multiple sources of information in times of emergency. Being able to access Vic Emergency, the FireReady app and local radio means you can stay up to date with what is happening in your local area real time.

More resources

For more information on being Fire Ready you can go to cfa.vic.gov.au or check out:

Are you #fireready?

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