On Tuesday 18 Feb 2014 the Be Ready Warrandyte team arranged for the CFA to attend a meeting with the Goldfields traders to assist them with their business bushfire planning. The meeting was attended by seven Goldfields traders, CFA Community Education Officers, Victoria Police and Be Ready Warrandyte committee members.
Be Ready Warrandyte would like to thank all involved for taking the time to be part of improving bushfire awareness and preparedness in the Warrandyte community.
Purpose
To facilitate information for what, when and how traders are going to do what they are going to do with regard to bushfire danger.
Areas covered
- Fire behaviour – affected by fuel, weather and topography. We live and/or work in Warrandyte because we love the bush environment so we need to live with the risk.
- Fire Danger Ratings (FDR) – what they mean, how they are determined, where to find them and how to use them.
- Districts – Warrandyte is in the Central district which covers a large and diverse area. An average of the entire district is used to determine the Fire Danger Rating.
- Total Fire Ban (TFB) – usually determined the day before. Will be publicised on the CFA & other emergency management websites, through the media – radio and television.
- Warnings – Advice, Watch & Act, Emergency Warning. These warnings take some time to be issued and it is important to read ALL the text, not just the first couple of lines. For a warning to be issued someone has to dial 000, CFA investigate then provide information back to incident control. You can’t rely on only one source of information or wait to be told of the threat. If the fire starts in your street the first you know of it could be seeing the smoke or flames and you will have little time to react.
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Things we can control
- All businesses should make a plan which includes back up plans should the first option fail.
- Establish triggers – a plan needs to have triggers identifying when you will change your behaviour. For example, reduced or changed trading hours or staffing levels based on FDR.
- Reduce fuel load – For example clean up leaf litter around buildings, move combustible items away from buildings.
- Landscaping – think about keeping plants away from buildings.
- Consider your responsibility to your staff to provide a safe working environment and change behaviour based on conditions and triggers.
- Consider business continuity – if a major fire comes through the area, may not get back to your business for an extended period – possibly a week or two.
- Traders need to make the decisions around the running of their business and the safety of themselves and their staff.
- Educate customers that the Goldfields Plaza is not a place of shelter. If they can make it to the IGA they should probably keep going to a safer location.
- Even if not directly impacted by flames, it is very unpleasant to be in the landscape of a bushfire. The physical and psychological effects are huge.
- Be aware of fixed firefighting equipment around the centre.
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Shared suggestions between traders
- Plans evolve over time
- Think about where you will get you information from and how – may lose power and/or phone connection.
- Plans require practice which includes driving via different routes
- Plans need to include backup plans
- Communication with staff is critical – ask them whether they are available to work on days of specified FDR
- Recognise who you have working on these days and how they will be able to deal with an emergency situation.
- Need to be adequately insured.
- Continue to reinforce that Goldfields is not a place of shelter
- Sometimes leaving a structure to go onto the road network places people in more danger
For more information about these topics or for assistance with your business bushfire planning please contact Evan Thomas via email – e.thomas@cfa.vic.gov.au or phone 0439 384 408.
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Warrandyte Fire 9 Feb 2014
Conditions leading up to the fire in Warrandyte on 9 Feb saw sustained hot weather, little to no rain resulting in the fuel on the ground being ready to burn. On Friday 7 Feb two consecutive state-wide Total Fire Bans were issued which was unprecedented. Advice on the media was that the weekend would be the worst fire conditions since Black Saturday. This should have rung alarm bells with the community including the traders.
Traffic outside Goldfields was crazy, Yarra St leading to Ringwood Rd was congested. Being on the road in a fire event is a poor option and offers little to no protection from radiant heat – a major killer. Police were dealing with drivers stopping to ask for directions and drivers wanting to debate why they should be allowed to go through the Traffic Management Point (TMP).
People entered the Goldfields Plaza believing it was a place of shelter or with their shopping bags totally oblivious to the fire situation.