Around the house

• Clear leaves from gutters, roofs and downpipes; mow your lawn; and trim low-lying branches around your home.
• Fit steel wire mesh screens to windows, doors and vents.
• Seal gaps in external cladding on the roof and walls.
• Close off open areas under decks and floors.
• Ensure that the pressure relief valves of LPG cylinders installed in your home face outwards.

Around the yard

• Tidy your back yard and move flammable material such as piles of wood, paper, boxes, crates and garden furniture away from your home.
• Ensure that garden hoses are long enough to reach the perimeter of your property.
• If you plant trees and shrubs around your home, choose those that have a lower oil content. They are less likely to catch fire.
• If you have a swimming pool or water tank, consider using a portable pump that will help you fight the fire.

Things to do

• Obey directives and regulations on the use of barbecues and open fires during Total Fire Ban days.
• Draw up a Home Emergency Plan that includes where you and your family will go if you have to evacuate your home and how you will contact each other if separated.
• Keep a list of emergency telephone numbers within easy reach – local/state emergency service, police, ambulance, hospital, gas and electricity – plus details of local relief centres and evacuation routes.
• Put together an “emergency pack” containing tinned food, a tin-opener, water, a first-aid kit, blankets, warm clothing, spare batteries, matches and gloves.
• Equip yourself with a battery-powered portable radio and torch so that you can stay updated on power restoration and evacuation alerts if the power is cut.
• Gather sentimental, important and valuable items, documents and photos that you can take with you should you need to evacuate.
• Consider keeping valuables items and documents in a fire-resistant safe or metal cabinet.

Around the house

• Avoid going into the bush if there is smoke or fire in the vicinity.
• Patrol the outside of your property
• Ensure that you have ladders, shovels and metal buckets to enable you to extinguish embers and spot fires.
• Bring your garden hose inside so that fire will not melt it and move any fire fighting equipment to a place where it will not get burnt.
• Close windows, doors and shutters.
• Block the downpipes on your house with a sock filled with sand or soil and fill the roof gutters with water.
• Block gaps beneath doors, using wet blankets or towels.
• Collect water in buckets or the bath.

Things to do

• Draw up a Home Emergency Plan that includes where you and your family will go if you have to evacuate your home and how you will contact each other if separated.
• Keep a list of emergency telephone numbers within easy reach – local/state emergency service, police, ambulance, hospital, gas and electricity – plus details of local relief centres and evacuation routes.
• Put together an “emergency pack” containing tinned food, a tin-opener, water, a first-aid kit, blankets, warm clothing, spare batteries, matches and gloves.
• Equip yourself with a battery-powered portable radio and torch so that you can stay updated on power restoration and evacuation alerts if the power is cut.
• Gather sentimental, important and valuable items, documents and photos that you can take with you should you need to evacuate. Consider keeping valuables items and documents in a fire-resistant safe or metal cabinet.