Guide · Summer safety ·
Bushfire season travel: how to check warnings first
Bushfire season travel starts with one habit: check the fire danger rating and any fire bans for your route and your destination before you leave, and again each morning. This guide shows where to look and gives a short plan for summer trips by road, on foot or by tent.
The facts below come from the Country Fire Authority (CFA), the NSW Rural Fire Service and the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, as their pages stood in late October 2009. Rules and ratings change, so treat the agency sites as the final word.
Sources for this section: CFA, Total Fire Bans page, 30 October 2009; NSW Rural Fire Service, Total Fire Bans and Fire Permits, October 2009.
Check four things before you leave
Conditions change from one stop to the next, so check each one.
- The weather forecast for every place on your route. Hot, dry and windy days are the ones that matter.
- The fire danger rating for your route and your destination.
- Fire bans. Find out whether the day is a Total Fire Ban day where you are going.
- Current fires near your route, which the fire agencies list online.
The NSW Rural Fire Service says it can restrict the use of fire through permits and Total Fire Bans, especially on days that are very hot, dry and windy. Its website carries a Total Fire Ban and current fire danger map. The CFA Total Fire Bans page states each day whether it is a Day of Total Fire Ban.
Tell someone where you are going and when you will arrive. Carry drinking water and a battery radio.
Sources for this section: NSW Rural Fire Service, Total Fire Bans and Fire Permits; CFA, Total Fire Bans page, 30 October 2009.
What the ratings mean for your plans
A fire danger rating comes from a number called the fire danger index. The Royal Commission explained that the index was first set on a scale of 0 to 100, and that a rating of Extreme covers an index of 50 and above.
That is a wide band. The Commission heard that a day with an index of 50 is very different from a day above 100, or even 200, yet both are called Extreme. Its interim report of 17 August 2009 said the system needed a more meaningful set of numbers and words for days above Extreme.
For a traveller, the lesson is simple. Do not treat Extreme as one level of risk. If the forecast is hot, dry and windy and the rating is high, move your trip to another day or another place.
Sources for this section: Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, Interim Report, Chapter 5, Information.
Where to look for warnings
| What you need | Where to find it |
|---|---|
| Total Fire Ban status in Victoria | The CFA website, which states each day whether it is a Day of Total Fire Ban |
| Victorian fire information by phone | The Victorian Bushfire Information Line, which the Royal Commission discussed in its interim report |
| New South Wales bans and danger map | The NSW Rural Fire Service page for Total Fire Bans and the current fire danger map |
| Fires burning now in New South Wales | The NSW Rural Fire Service Current Incidents page |
The Current Incidents page lists each fire with an alert level, such as Advice or Watch and Act, plus its location, size and status.
The Bureau of Meteorology also issues forecasts and warnings of severe fire weather. It issued numerous ones in the week before 7 February 2009.
Sources for this section: CFA, Total Fire Bans page; NSW Rural Fire Service, Total Fire Bans and Fire Permits, and Current Incidents in NSW, 24 October 2009; Royal Commission, Interim Report, Chapters 1 and 5.
What 7 February 2009 showed
On Saturday 7 February 2009, temperatures in Victoria rose fast, and strong gale-force north-westerly winds began to reach the ground. By 11:00 many places were near 40°C, and humidity was already below 20 per cent in many parts of the state.
Melbourne reached 46.4°C that day. That beat its previous all-time record of 45.6°C, set on 13 January 1939, in 154 years of records. Later in the day a strong south-westerly wind change moved across the state. The Commission notes that fire danger ratings stayed well into the Extreme category ahead of the change. In central parts of the state they did not drop below that level until an hour after it passed.
For visitors, the point is that fire weather builds fast, and a wind change can turn the side of a fire into a much larger front.
Sources for this section: Royal Commission, Interim Report, The February 2009 Fires chapter.
Total Fire Ban days on the road
A Total Fire Ban changes what you can do at a campsite or picnic spot. The CFA says barbecues that burn wood, charcoal or briquettes are banned, including closed oven or kettle types. Tools that use a naked flame or make sparks, such as welding and grinding, cannot be used in the open air.
Some gas and electric barbecues are allowed, with conditions. The CFA lists these for a barbecue in a public reserve or campsite:
- The barbecue is gas or electric and is a fixed, permanent structure.
- The ground within 3 metres, and the air above it, is clear of anything that can burn.
- An adult stays with it at all times.
- A hose on a town water supply, or a container with at least 10 litres of water, is close by.
A portable gas or electric barbecue has to be within 20 metres of a permanent dwelling. The CFA says mobile homes, caravans and tents do not count as permanent dwellings, so campers should plan cold meals on ban days.
Sources for this section: CFA, Total Fire Bans page, 30 October 2009.
A short plan for a summer trip
- The night before, check the forecast and the fire danger rating for your route and your stop.
- Check whether it is a Total Fire Ban day and which fires are burning now.
- If the day looks hot, dry and windy with a high rating, change your plan. Pick a beach, a town or a museum over a forest walk.
- Leave your route and return time with a friend or family member.
- If a fire agency or the police tell you to leave or turn back, do as they say.
This is general information, not professional safety advice.
Sources
- CFA, Total Fire Bans, as at 30 October 2009: cfa.vic.gov.au
- NSW Rural Fire Service, Total Fire Bans and Fire Permits, October 2009: rfs.nsw.gov.au
- NSW Rural Fire Service, Current Incidents in NSW, as at 24 October 2009: rfs.nsw.gov.au
- 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, Interim Report, 17 August 2009, Chapter 5, Information: royalcommission.vic.gov.au
- 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, Interim Report, The February 2009 Fires: royalcommission.vic.gov.au