Bushfire Safety
The safety of yourself and your loved ones is the most important things to think about in the event of a bushfire. The following resources will provide you with information that will help you stay safe.
- Australian Danger Rating System Fire Danger Rating – Tasmania Fire Service
- TASALERT for alerts and warnings via TasALERT
- Source of Truth
Plan to survive
Preparing for bushfire means more than physical preparations to your house and garden. It also includes having a bushfire plan that can be enacted on days when the fire danger rating in your area is extreme or catastrophic, or in the event of a bushfire.
- Bushfire Survival Plan Do your bushfire plan now! | Bushfire: Why risk it?
- Check the Fire Danger Rating Forecast Fire Danger Rating Maps & Tables – Tasmania Fire Service
- Bushfire Safety Guide – link to Bushfire Safety Guide on this page Do your bushfire plan now! | Bushfire: Why risk it?
- Prepare your Emergency Kit
Preparing your house and your garden
There are a number of ways that bushfire can damage or destroy house. The most common is from embers landing on or near flammable materials around the house and garden and igniting spot fires.
- Ensure there is defendable space around your home.
- Vegetation Management Landscaping – Bushfire best practice guide (csiro.au)
- Check your water supply and make sure it is clearly marked.
- Ensure there is easy access to your property for emergency vehicles and equipment such a fire truck.
- Consider building improvements that make your home less vulnerable to ember attack. see Retrofits – Bushfire best practice guide (csiro.au)
- Clear out your gutters
- Remove wood piles and other flammable materials from around your home.
For more information and videos about preparing your house and garden see Challenge 3 | TFS BRN (bushfirereadyneighbourhoods.tas.gov.au)
Community Protection Plans – What are they?
Community protection Plan provide information on how to prepare for and survive a bushfire, and how and where to get additional bushfire safety information. The information is a critical part of a Bushfire Plan.
To check whether there is a Community Bushfire Protection Plan for your area, go to Tasmania Fire Service
Council’s Bushfire Policy and Plans
Kingborough Council are committed to minimising the risk of bushfire to the community, whilst balancing the need to protect the special values of our bushland areas. Council also recognises the ecological role of fire in its consideration of bushfire management issues.
Council’s policy has been adopted with the aim of reducing fire risk within residential areas.
- View the Fire Abatement Policy (PDF)
Council has a Risk Reduction Strategy to guide fire management on its land.
View the Risk Reduction Strategy
There are Bushfire Management Plans in place for the following reserves
- Algona Reserve
- Barretta Reserve
- Bonnie Brae Reserve
- Boronia Hill Reserve
- Hawthorn Drive Reserve
- Peggy’s Beach Reserve
- Slevin Reserve
- Suncoast Headlands Reserve
- Tinderbox Reserve
- Wellington Park Reserve (Master Plan)
- Whitewater Creek Reserve
- Peter Murrell Reserve (Parks and Wildlife Service, Tasmania)
Request for clearing fuel breaks or Hazard Management Areas (HMA) within Council’s Reserves
Requests to clear new fuel breaks within Councils bushland reserves, as part of Hazard Management Areas for new developments adjoining reserves, have the potential to negatively impact the value of Kingborough’s bushland reserves. Where possible, all bushfire Hazard Management Areas should be contained within the property being developed.
