Each year, we hear reports of doom and gloom when it comes to bushfires. However, this year, with the end of the drought nowhere in sight, the threat to Shire residents is more prevalent.
While a number of factors come together to increase the risk of bushfire in our area, the protection of our own homes ultimately comes down to the individual. You can minimise the threat to your property, and help prevent the spread of a bushfire, by taking some time to plan and maintain your garden.
Establishing what is called an Asset Protection Zone, which is an area surrounding your home where fuel has been reduced to a level that will no longer support bushfires, is something for which we all need to be responsible.
We all know that being proactive and maintaining our gardens and property is the recommended method; however for those of who haven’t consider :
1. Clean all guttering – make sure it’s free of debris, especially leaf litter as it catches fire easily.
2. Firmly fix your roofing so there is less chance for hot embers to enter the roof space, which may start a fire in the house.
3. Install screens or shutters and enclose areas under the floor, if possible.
4. Ensure vents into the roof space are screened with fine wire mesh.
5. Remove all flammable items from around your house such as timber, paper, boxes, crates and hanging baskets.
6. Direct the relief valves on LPG tanks AWAY from your home and buy a portable pump to use water from dams and swimming pools.
7. Fit a gate valve to water tanks – a 65mm Storz coupling will assist Rural Fire Brigades.
8. Place the emergency 000 telephone number next to the phone.
9. Prune trees and prepare firebreaks by having a well-watered lawn.
While hazard reduction is one of the most important elements in protecting your home, reducing fuel does not necessarily mean removing all vegetation. Environmentally speaking, this would be disastrous. Also, in some cases, trees and plants often provide bushfire protection from things such as strong winds, intense heat and flying embers.
You can tell if you are more at risk of a bushfire threat, if you:
• live close to bushland or areas with significant ground fuels
• live in a designated bushfire prone area (according to council’s bushfire-prone map)
• live in an area with a history of fire incidents
• are on top of a slope, such as a ridge or hill
• have continuous material, such as bushes and shrubs, growing next to homes or sheds
• live on a property with limited access
• have little access to water for firefighting
• are distant from services
• haven’t prepared the family, home, property and firefighting equipment.
For more information contact the New South Wales Government and NSW Rural Fire Service on www.rfs.nsw.gov.au | 
