Bush fire, Wild-fire. How to survive & prevent.

[Michaelangelica]

So Sorry to hear what is hapeniing in California

(Who was the 'dumb arse' who imported eucalyptus?)

 

We in Oz know how terrifying, frightening, destructive and unstoppable these fires can be.

Imagine loosing all you nick- naks, memories and photos in your house. Your family memories. it is bad enough when a computer hard drive crashes but a house or a farm with animals- unimaginable!

The house does not matter the home does.

 

We have learnt a lot about fires in Oz and have some new techniques and methods you Yanks might find helpful. If you are seriously interested do a seach of Oz sites. The CSIRO is especially good.

We get a bit blaze' and complacent sometimes here in Oz too; so some reminders won't go astray.

I hope the information helps.

 

If we can send money or any other help to the Californians please let us know.

 

PROPERTY PROTECTION:

Fighting Fire With Steel

By David Adams

 

New research on the role fences play in protecting houses against bushfire has quantified the obvious – steel fences are a better fire barrier.

CSIRO SOLVE: PROPERTY PROTECTION: Fighting Fire with Steel

Protecting your home from bushfire (Audio)

 

Audio

Trees alight in an intense bushfire.

Bushfires are one of the most damaging natural disasters in southern Australia.

Protecting your home from bushfire

 

 

HEALTH ADVICE ON EFFECTS OF BUSHFIRE SMOKE

Health advice on effects of bushfire smoke - 5.12.06

Dr Hall said measures should be taken to reduce heat stress, especially in the very young, people who are unwell, or the elderly.

 

Australian Government Emergency Management Australia - Bushfires

BUSHFIRE ACTION GUIDE

 

In bushfires, radiant heat, dehydration and asphyxiation are the main killers. Well-prepared houses resist brief exposure to fire, protecting occupants who can then save their homes.

 

BEFORE THE BUSHFIRE SEASON - Prevent/Prepare

 

*

Remove rubbish, leaf litter and native shrubs close to buildings.

*

Form a wide firebreak around your home, eg short, green grass (use mower, spade, rake), trim branches well clear of the house. Clear roof and gutters of leaves, twigs etc..

*

Fit wire screens to doors, windows and vents, and enclose all gaps, roof eaves and the area under your house.

*

Store wood, gas, petrol, paint etc well clear of the house.

*

Keep ladders handy for roof access (inside and out). Fit hoses to reach all parts of the house and garden. If mains pressure water is not connected, obtain a high pressure pump.

*

Fit wire screens to doors, windows and vents, and enclose all gaps, roof eaves and the area under your house.

*

Check you have adequate insurance cover for bushfire.

*

Agree on a household plan to leave early or stay to protect your home during a bushfire. If leaving, plan when, where, how you will go and what to take.

 

IF A BUSHFIRE APPROACHES - Leave or Protect

. . .

IF CAUGHT IN A FIRE, DRIVING - Shelter in Car

 

*

Don't drive into or near bushfires. If caught in a bushfire don't drive through flames or thick smoke

*

Stop in an area of low vegetation. Leave motor running and airconditioner (recycle), hazard lights and headlights on.

*

Stay inside unless near safe shelter. Keep vents, windows and doors closed. Lie inside, below window level, under a woollen blanket for skin protection.

*

After the main fire-front passes, if car is on fire or heat and fumes inside are severe, get out and move to already burnt ground, keeping your whole body covered with the blanket.

*

The fuel tank is unlikely to explode in the period you need to stay in the car while being shielded from the deadly radiant heat of the main fire-front.

 

IF CAUGHT IN FIRE, ON FOOT - Seek Shelter

 

*

Don't panic - cover all exposed skin and hair.

*

Move across-slope, away from the fire-front, then down-slope towards the rear of the main fire-front.

*

Find open or already-burnt ground. Don't try to outrun fire, or go uphill, or through even low flames, unless you can clearly see a safe area very close by.

*

If you can't avoid the fire, lie face-down under a bank, rock, loose earth or in a hollow, or if possible get into a dam or stream, but not a water tank

.

Bushfires

 

Bushfire Survival and Property Protection

 

There are many factors which affect the risk to life and property. These include property location and access, the amount and type of nearby vegetation, building position and condition, availability of water and the physical capabilities of those involved. In bushfires, radiant heat, dehydration and asphyxiation (choking) are the major killers.

Emergency Management Australia - Schools - Bushfires Survival

 

Horses and Bushfires

Fire-safe Gear for Horses

The same principles for fire safe clothing apply to your horse:

 

* don’t use synthetic (nylon or plastic) halters or lead ropes. These may melt and cause serious burns to your horse and its handler. Leather halters and cotton lead ropes, while generally not as strong as nylon, will be safer;

 

* don’t use nylon fly masks or other synthetic tack or equipment.

Horses and Bushfires

 

Strategies to Reduce Bushfire Damage in Gardens

a global garden australia - down to earth

 

[Buffy]

Thanks Michael! We know them well here too of course, and I've flown into both Sydney and Los Angeles at times when you couldn't see a thing for the smoke.

 

My own house burned down in a firestorm too, so I can claim first hand experience. Its not fun. I know of several people who have lost their homes in this latest conflagration, and the scope is enormous: nearly 1 million people have had to evacuate, a half a million acres (2000 sqKm) have burned, almost 2000 homes lost, and only 3 of 13 fires are even partially under control after 4 days.

 

Oddly enough, the very popular 60 minutes news program on CBS on Sunday night had a piece about the growing threat of wild fires in the western US, with a few interesting facts:

• The length of the official fire season has increased 78 days in just 15 years
  
• Because of this longer season, undergrowth now completely dries out causing fires to burn much hotter than they used to
  
• Because of the increased heat, Ponderosa pines now regularly are completely killed off by the fires, and *do not grow back* as they used to.
  

There have been some attempts to turn this back onto the "environmentalists" who want to "save the trees" and won't let smaller fires burn, thus maintaining the forests with enormous built-up amounts of burnable material. This of course has not been true for over 30 years since some of the first experiments in controlled burns were started...in California.

 

Moreover in Los Angeles, the issue really is the length of the season: its a desert and there really are no forests to speak of (exception being Lake Arrowhead/Big Bear region which has been hit hard this time but has been many times before too). Los Angeles gets *brush* fires where the heat and spread of the fire is directly related to how much rain there is. Malibu for example has no trees anywhere near it, and has been hit hard 3 times in the last ten years, which represents a very large statistical increase compared to the previous hundred years.

 

Mama Earth is trying to tell us something folks....

 

What I really hate about that guy who brought over the Eucalyptus is that he picked the *one* variety that the Koalas *don't eat*. Otherwise we'd just ask ya to export us a bunch of the mean cute little critters over here to munch on these "world's largest weeds."

 

Yuck-a-lip-tus is totally sucky,

Buffy

[Michaelangelica]

Thanks Michael! We know them well here too of course,

 

My own house burned down in a firestorm too, so I can claim first hand experience. Its not fun. I know of several people who have lost their homes in this latest conflagration,

I came close

My kids still have nightmares about it.

I cannot comprehend what loosing your "HOUSEHARDDRIVE" would mean.

Just devastating.

 

I am listening to ABC 702 ABC local radio now about the way Californians handle fires and the way we do here.

Very different

Australia experience is very hard won lessons; often flying in the face of common sense. eg We don't evacuate as much as the US.

 

Perhaps after this we could all get the experts together over a few cool beers to nut out some better ideas for the future.

 

...

What I really hate about that guy who brought over the Eucalyptus is that he picked the *one* variety that the Koalas *don't eat*. Otherwise we'd just ask ya to export us a bunch of the mean cute little critters over here to much on these "world's largest weeds."

Dumb arse.

Didn't he want to make wagon wheels?

Koalas are superb animals until they pee on you.

 

If you find a "Fair Dinkum" bank account to send money too let me know and I will publicise it it the media.

 

Then we might need it back unless we get a Noha's Ark type deluge very soon.

This year has the potential of being the worst bushfire year ever in Australia.