What can you do to avoid – or survive – a bushfire?

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Explainer: Bushfires are happening earlier and in new areas. What can you do now to prepare?

What do the fire ratings mean?

That's not to say firefighting is a walk in the park at lower levels, Inspector Shepherd warns. More homes have been lost in NSW at very high and severe fire danger than on extreme and catastrophic days.A lot of people do choose to stay and defend their homes when the bushfire level is very high or severe and, if they are well prepared, Inspector Shepherd says, they are welcome to do so.

"What we don't want to see you do is choose to stay and defend and, at the last minute think, I can't do this and try to leave."There are few sentences more ominous than this bushfire emergency warning alert: "It is too late to leave. Seek shelter as the fire impacts." Avoid being caught on foot at all costs – but if you are, make sure you are covered and try to find a rock, log or ditch to shield yourself.It's not necessarily the flames. If you're caught in the path of the fire, chances are it's the radiant heat that will kill you – which is why solid buildings are the safest place to shelter.

"People can’t underestimate the stress a large bushfire can have on an individual," says Inspector Shepherd. "It is hot, it is stressful, you will be exerting yourself running around. It is a real risk, not just for us but the general public as well." The NSW Rural Fire Service is powered by more than 70,000 volunteers, The Queensland Fire and Emergency Services has about 42,000, Victoria's Country Fire Authority has almost 35,000, South Australia's Country Fire Service about 13,500, Tasmania has 5000 and Western Australia has about 2300. But they are already increasingly stretched.

 

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