Get ready with us: Bushfire season

As the dry season progresses, the risk of bushfires causing damage to pasture, infrastructure and livelihoods, increases.

The FutureBeef eBulletin editors asked their colleagues for bushfire preparation tips and tricks they’ve either employed themselves or seen while they’ve been out and about.

Here’s the advice we received from across northern Australia:

Your plan

Human lives matter most. Make a bushfire survival plan for you and your family, ensuring every member of your household knows what to do and where to go if your home is threatened, including property evacuation routes and alternatives if one gets cut off.
If you plan to assist neighbours in the event of a bushfire, discuss with your family and staff who will stay home and coordinate logistics, and who will go out and deal with the fire.
Update the first aid kits, ensuring there is one in every vehicle.
Have a list of all your neighbours phone numbers and UHF channels somewhere that can be easily seen and share it with neighbours.
If you are not a member of a local fire brigade – have up to date contacts of who to call – but seriously consider becoming a member of your local volunteer brigade.
Consider selling stock that are almost market ready, rather than risking loss or delays in sales post fire event.
Sign-up to attend one of Department of Primary Industries Bushfire Planning and Preparedness Workshops.

Property identification

Is your property clearly identifiable from the road? A colleague who is a volunteer firefighter said, ‘It’s surprising how many properties are unmarked or aren’t clearly identifiable from the road.’

Firebreaks

The allowable width of a preventative firebreak varies from state to state.

In Queensland, preventative firebreaks can be up to 10m wide, or 1.5 times the height of the tallest adjacent tree, unless it is protecting a building or structure, when firebreaks are allowed to be 20m wide. Clearing for bushfire management (PDF) has more information.

The Northern Territory has different requirements for landholders. Firebreaks must be at least 4m wide, and if vegetated, be shorter than 50mm. Additionally, firebreaks must be installed or upgraded annually before 1 June. Find out more, here: NT.GOV.AU Install and maintain firebreaks

Generally, Western Australian landholders must have a firebreak over 3m wide to a maximum of 6m wide with at least a 4.5m high vertical clearance to allow for a vehicle to pass under it, however these requirements vary with the size of the parcel of land. More information can be found here: WA Fire Safety.

Strategically using grazing in advance

Grazing can be used to reduce fuel loads in high-risk areas.
Lanes can be grazed to act as firebreaks if needed.
Placing lick troughs or blocks around isolated infrastructure, or at planned rescue areas, can be one way to reduce the fuel load at a designated site.

Community networks

On your list of neighbourhood contacts, record who has machinery (dozers, graders) that can be used to make firebreaks.
A community meeting at the start of the season is helpful to make sure everyone knows what their role will be in the event of a fire, including nominating who will be the central coordinator (person who knows who is where & doing what). These are things we ‘assume’ people do but are often overlooked or left until the fires have started.

Update or create a WhatsApp or Messenger group for your district fire brigade or region so you can communicate quickly.

Mapping

Prepare property maps showing fences, firebreaks and water refill points for everyone who might come to help fight a fire.
Have at least one large, laminated map in a central location that everyone can refer to.
Print multiple copies of your property map NOW.
Put a copy or 2 in the glovebox of every vehicle.
Update your digital map as above on Avenza and share with neighbours also.

Information

Know where to go to get more information:
- NAFI, or Sentinel Hotspots to find out where the smoke is coming from.
- Weather app for wind speed and direction forecasts (I use Elders Weather, as it has a 7-day forecast that is easy to print and take with you)
Know who your rural fire brigade’s Warden and 1^st officer are.
Know who to talk to at Rural Fire Service and how the water bombers (planes) work so that you don’t have to learn when the fire is coming.
Know the OH&S requirements of the Rural Fire Service. Especially to be covered by their comprehensive insurance.
Review the list of equipment that you and your fire brigade have on hand and can replace/update/order as appropriate.
- If planning to fight fires, individuals should have leather riggers gloves, the yellow coat/pants (coats are very good and very warm), packed overnight bags.
- Brigade – the list of items that your brigade is entitled to changes, please double check. You might be able to get another slip-on unit, dripper, trailer, etc.

Insurance

Check to see if your insurance will cover damage from bushfire and consider upgrading your policy if you deem the risk to be high.
As is the case flood events, photo evidence of infrastructure or valuable items is helpful to establish proof of ownership if needing to make an insurance claim.

Machinery, gear and maintenance

Earth moving equipment

Ensure machinery is serviced and functional.
Carry spare air filters in each machine.

Firefighting unit

Ensure it is serviced and functional.
Check the hose connections to ensure they haven’t perished, and the whole system connects easily.
For fast refilling of firefighter units, have fittings on tanks and pumps on water storage.

Livestock infrastructure

Build or modify existing livestock infrastructure to act as a fire refuge or ensure effective feeding and watering after a fire; containment feeding pens are ideal for this.
Ensure you have water sources available after the fire to water livestock ideally near refuge areas; concrete or steel tanks are more fire resistant,

Fighting the fire itself

Our colleagues provided the following advice:

“Get going as soon as fire is seen.”

“Remember that it’s not unusual for a fire to travel at 10 km per hour.”

“Sacrificing some country in the interest of controlling the fire is a saving.”

“Keep watching fire well after it appears to be under control.”

“Make ‘safe’ areas for cattle, for example pulled country, for them to move to in case of wildfire.”

Rural Fire Service Queensland Deputy Chief Officer, Northern Region, Tyron McMahon provided the following advice:

“Whilst back burning is a very common practice, there are some policy and legislative requirements that need to be considered. If you are undertaking back burning operations, ensure all personnel are aware and supportive of the burn and all potential consequences have been considered.” More information about lighting fires in Queensland can be found here: Lighting fires in Queensland.

After the fire

What graziers say after the fire:

“Keep an eye out for stock with breathing problems, stock slow to recover from injury and diseased stock, we experienced significant losses in the months after the fire.”

“Reduce stock numbers to match feed still available.”

“With conservative stocking, always have some paddocks spelled so cattle can be moved into these paddocks.”

“Take the opportunity to cull non-performing cattle so grazing pressure on pasture is reduced.”

“Don’t start restocking for 6-8 months after fire, to allow pasture to recover.”

And finally…

The team at Spyglass provided this insight:

“We did rural first aid at Spyglass last year, and having a mock emergency really brings it home that when things go wrong, you really need to have your **** in order.”