Property 101: Is your property prepared for a bushfire?

With summer only a couple of months away, now is the perfect time to ensure your property is prepared for the upcoming bushfire season.

Our long, dry summers bring about soaring temperatures that make the state very susceptible to the threat of bushfires. It’s important that whether you’re a tenant, home owner or landlord, you take steps to ensure your property is prepared.

The Department of Fire & Emergency Services (DFES) recommend preparing both your property and your family before bushfire season.

How to prepare your property

It is your responsibility to ensure that your home is prepared for bushfires.

The DFES recommend you:

• Walk around your property and imagine a bushfire is coming - look for items likely to burn or places where embers could start a fire e.g. through gaps in roofs, walls, evaporative airconditioners and gutters.
  
  
•  Remember to install a mesh cover over your evaporative airconditioner and metal fly screens on your windows and vents to keep sparks and embers out.
  
  
•  Clear vegetation and rubbish from around your property and create a 20 metre circle of safety to reduce the risk that burning vegetation will spark your house alight.
  
  
•  Store firewood away from the building.
  
  
•  Ensure any gas bottles on the property are secured and positioned so that it will vent away from the building if it is subject to flame contact or radiant heat.

View a full checklist of how to prepare your property for bushfires.

How to prepare your family

It’s also important to ensure your family or housemates are well informed. Spring is the perfect time to have a discussion about what you will do if a bushfire occurs near your home.

The DFES recommend that people (particularly those who live in high risk areas within 100 metres of bush) have an emergency risk kit ready to go in case you are evacuated or cut off during a bushfire.

This kit should include essential supplies, such as;

• a radio
  
  
• torch
  
  
• spare batteries
  
  
• first aid kit
  
  
• woollen blanket
  
  
• water
  
  
• non-perishable food.

Bushfires happen every summer in Western Australia and are unpredictable. They can flare up suddenly and without warning, so it’s imperative to take responsibility for reducing the risks to your house and family.

For more information, visit dfes.wa.gov.au.