NSW residents urged to ‘get ready’ for bushfires this weekend
New South Wales residents are being urged to use the next two days to prepare their homes for the threat of bushfire and make a survival plan with loved ones should tragedy strike.
The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) is launching “Get Ready Weekend” over September 11 and 12, an awareness campaign aimed at giving at-risk properties the best chance of survival when the bushfire season ramps up.
NSW Rural Fire Service Inspector Ben Sheperd said there are five simple steps you can take to give your property a fighting chance and a simple conversation with your family could make a big difference if a fire threatens your home.
“The NSW Rural Fire Service is urging everyone across the state to take these simple steps to get themselves and their properties prepared this Get Ready Weekend,” Inspector Sheperd said.
To protect your home from the threat of bushfire, the NSW RFS advises you to:
- Trim overhanging trees and shrubs surrounding your home
- Mow your lawn and clear the cuttings, ensuring the area surrounding your home is cleared
- Remove material that could burn around your home, including door mats, wood piles and mulch
- Clear and remove leaves and debris from your gutters and prepare a sturdy hose or hoses that can reach around the entire property
“Most importantly, you should have a five-minute conversation with your household and ask if threatened by fire – when will you go, what will you take and where will you go?” Inspector Sheperd says.
“It is the ideal time to take these vital steps and have these potentially life-saving conversations, especially as most of us are under stay-at-home orders with the current COVID-19 restrictions.”
The NSW RFS warns bushfires are more likely to spread and cause damage on days when the weather is very hot, dry and windy.
With temperatures expected to be in the high 20Cs for much of the state this weekend, this is the ideal opportunity to make sure you are prepared.
Inspector Sheperd said firefighters have seized upon favourable weather in recent weeks to conduct vital hazard reduction burns across the state, and now it’s the community’s turn to get their property in order to better protect their home and loved ones.
“Having your property well prepared means that firefighters don’t have to overcome these challenges to extinguish a blaze encroaching on your house if that time comes,” he said.
“Knowing when it may be time to leave is also crucial to save both your life and potentially the lives of firefighters trying to rescue you from the location.”
The official bushfire season is expected to begin in October however the Bushfire Danger Period has already begun for 27 Local Government Areas across NSW, including:
- Armidale Regional
- Ballina
- Bega Valley
- Bellingen
- Byron
- Clarence Valley
- Coffs Harbour
- Eurobodalla
- Glen Innes Severn
- Gunnedah
- Inverell
- Kempsey
- Kyogle
- Lismore
- Liverpool Plains
- Mid-Coast
- Muswellbrook
- Nambucca
- Port Macquarie-Hastings
- Richmond Valley
- Shoalhaven
- Singleton
- Tenterfield
- Tweed
- Upper Hunter
- Uralla
- Walcha
“It should be noted that we’ve already seen some fires occur in the state’s north so there’s no time like the present to be prepared,” Inspector Sheperd said.
