Cara Jenkin: It’s not just those living in the Adelaide Hills that need a bushfire plan

THE Adelaide Hills is forecast to be at “catastrophic” fire danger on Saturday — so it’s a timely reminder that survival plans aren’t just for those who live in the countryside, Cara Jenkin writes.

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IN every major bushfire in South Australia we learn something new about how to prepare better for the next bushfire.

After the catastrophic Pinery bushfire late in 2015, the lesson that struck home to me was how little notice there may be to enact your bushfire survival plan.

It’s not just those who live in the Adelaide Hills and are at home that day that need one of these plans – it’s every South Australian.

Sure, those who live in bushfire risk areas need to be prepared more, by doing such things as keeping their gutters clear of leaves, having sprinkler systems or even perhaps having a refuge bunker installed on their property.

For them, having a formal bushfire survival plan is essential.

But having a plan for when a bushfire flares up also is important for those who may not think they need one — who live on the fringe of the greater Adelaide area and major towns across the state, or anywhere near natural grassland.

They need to be prepared if they are at work and their pets — or worse, children — are at home alone and a fire breaks out.

Last summer South Australia managed to get through the bushfire season without a major fire, which should be considered a lucky break, not the norm.

It probably increases the risk this year, not just from the amount of unburnt grass and bushland which has dried out, but a natural feeling to be more relaxed or complacent about bushfires that comes with one not being in recent memory.

The CFS website has a handy type-in-your-address tool for anyone to find out their risk.

ere’s something that may surprise you - many metropolitan residents are classified as being in a risk area. That includes parts of Modbury Heights and Hallett Cove. Remember the text alerts people in Golden Grove received late at night, at the height of the Sampson Flat fire in 2015, and the panic and uncertainty that caused?

Most of those residents were not prepared for when their local mobile phone tower suggested they could be in the path of an inferno.

However, even an informal survival plan is required by anyone who drives to places such as Yorke Peninsula or River Murray, even just once for a day trip.

I live well into suburbia, in an area considered a bushfire safer place, according to the CFS site, and my bushfire plan includes not going anywhere near an at-risk area on a catastrophic fire danger day.

A bushfire survival plan is not just checking Facebook, Twitter or text messages for alert messages, keeping the mobile phone on for a text message advising to evacuate (it may be too late by then anyway), or having a battery-powered radio turned on and the ear tuned in for the siren alert.

But being alert in general. Because if a bushfire starts in the neighbour’s paddock or backyard or 5km away as you’re driving from Adelaide to Victor Harbor, the fire will be at you before the fire service is on their way, before the emergency alerts can be read on air on radio, and before you check Facebook.

What would you do?

If you have no idea, it’s dead easy to know the fire danger rating on a given day which can help minimise the risk of being caught in a bushfire, if you stay away from danger zones on higher risk days.

If you’ve missed the paper, you can watch the TV news, subscribe to email alerts or check the website and social media before heading out for the day.

Fires still can happen on lower risk days, so think about what you would do if you smelled smoke, saw it on the horizon, or heard about it and realised someone or something you love is in the path of the flames.

Don’t become complacent and think it won’t happen to you, that a fire hasn’t been in your parts for years, or that someone will warn you.

Chances are it will happen too quickly for anyone to warn you.

Learn what to do. Attend an information night. Ask questions. Be prepared to stay and take shelter, or be nowhere near a fire when it sparks.

Just don’t plan on fleeing in panic or when you think you might be still safe. Fires travel fast and create hazardous driving conditions, so it is probably already will be too late for that, if you are to survive.