Fire Safety

Reflections

Mostly, if a fire breaks out in the Sutton Volunteer Rural Fire Brigade region, a mob of firefighters and trucks from our own and neighbouring brigades descends rapidly on it and puts it out. That's that. Very, very occasionally, as in last January, there is a fire emergency of such magnitude that the fire brigade is not going to be able to simply put it out, and residents have to take a large responsibility for the defence of their own property. Now that the weather is cold and the grass is green and the emergency is a long way behind us, it might be worthwhile for each household to reflect on the events of last summer, and our own preparedness for when, not if but when, it happens again.

The Tuesday after the firestorm hit Canberra was actually the day of highest risk for us here. That morning volunteers from the SES came around to do a bit of a census and to ask whether residents intended to stay and fight or evacuate if a fire front came through. Later that day a story was already circulating around Sutton village that the 'stupid' SES had 'caused panic' by telling people to evacuate immediately. They did not do that. I suspect that the panic was in the minds of some people who had simply not considered the question.

It might be good for us all to think back on that week and answer a few questions, not so we can have a guilt trip, but so that we have a checklist of preparations for the next long hot summer.

• When the SES people came, had you already decided whether to stay or go?
• Had you cleaned out your gutters, and if so, when? (OK, true confessions time. I cleaned out mine during the week of the fires and was horrified to discover how many dead gumleaves the dry windy weather had caused to be deposited in them. You can now answer all questions honestly, but you don't need to tell us the answers!)
• Had you cleared out the garden and surrounds of the house of excess combustible material?
• Given the drought conditions, did you have enough water available to at least put out spot fires?
• Could you have used that water if the electricity had been turned off?
• Did you have a portable fire pump, and if so, was it set up and functioning, with good quality hoses? (The local rural centres completely sold out of portable fire pumps and hoses during the week of the fires.)
• Was the grass cut or munched nice and short in the area around your house and sheds?
• If, like many of us around here, your livestock consists of a few beloved pets such as ponies, donkeys or alpacas, were they in the safest possible place such as a yard, or paddock with negligible fuel to burn?
• Could you have caught them quickly if you needed to get them out of there or even just calm them down?
• Did you have appropriate clothing - long pants, long sleeved shirt and jumper or overalls, thick soled shoes and socks, gloves, hat and bandana or face mask - sitting in a neat pile ready to hand?
• Did you have plans made for evacuating elderly residents or young children if necessary?
• Did you have arrangements made for emergency contact at work?

We could go on, but if you contemplate those questions, you will be thinking down the right track. These major fire events do not happen very often, but they do happen. In over thirty years living in Sutton, I can recall three occasions when there was such a risk to our property, and on only one of those occasions did the fire actually arrive. Thinking ahead is the key.

The fire brigade will be holding a community information night later in the year so that everyone can come along and discuss these issues. We will be circulating the details closer to the event. Come along, so that you can help your fire brigade to help you.

There is not just one right answer to each of these questions. As President Bill pointed out in the same newsletter, the decision on whether to stay or evacuate will depend on each family's circumstances. People with tiny children or elderly residents in the family may make a different decision to a family with a mob of robust teenagers able to help with the firefighting themselves.

On the Tuesday mentioned above, so many people in northern Canberra rushed out into their gardens with their rakes and hedgeclippers that they had to set up an emergency green waste dump in Mitchell to prevent all these hastily assembled clippings becoming a fire hazard themselves on the nature strips. There were photographs in the paper of people standing on their roofs wearing shorts and T-shirts, spraying valuable water around hours before there was any risk of fire approaching. These people were not prepared; they were reacting impulsively to the situation.

Given that we were in drought, none of us were as well supplied with firefighting water as we would have liked. We had a firefighting pump here at my place, but no water in the dam! We bought a load of water for the house tanks, organised it as strategically as we could, and were aware that we could only douse hot spots at best. But at least we had a plan.

So the trick is, think back to that time and ask "Did we have a plan?" The next question is not "Was it the perfect plan?", but "Was it the best plan for the time and circumstances?" and "Was it a feasable plan?"

If you are not sure what is the best plan for you, the best thing is to discuss it with the combined expertise of the brigade and the community. The public meetings of the brigade are one appropriate forum for such discussion, and we would like to organise regular community information nights, and perhaps even a community training course on how to live with fire in our combustible landscape. Watch out for continuing communications on this subject.