As fire season looms, more than 40 per cent of people in fire-prone areas don’t know what a bushfire safer place is

Know where your nearest bushfire refuge is? A disturbing amount of South Australians in fire-prone areas don’t even know what it is. Find out here.

More than 40 per cent of South Australians living in bushfire-prone areas don’t know where their nearest bushfire safer place is, or even the meaning of the refuge.

A bushfire last resort refuge is a place to go when your bushfire plan has failed, and offers only limited fire protection. It is commonly an oval, which does not protect from heat and embers, and does not provide access to food or amenities.

A bushfire safer place is used by people who need to move from a bushfire zone early, and is suitable when the weather is forecast for high fire danger. Bushfire safer places are often in more heavily built-up areas, or townships less prone to bushfire danger.

At the end of last bushfire season, a survey of 800 people in bushfire-prone areas of SA showed 42 per cent – 336 – did not know what a bushfire safer place was, nor where they could find it.

Just weeks out from the start of the fire danger season, Country Fire Service’s acting director of preparedness operations, Joel Taggart, said the results were concerning.

“Despite the fact that we’ve had catastrophic bushfires in our state over recent years, it’s quite worrying to know that people don’t fully comprehend the concept of our established Bushfire Safer Places,” Mr Taggart said.

“More often than not, they get confused with a bushfire last resort refuge, which should not be used unless there is absolutely no other option.”

The bushfire season starts from November in some areas, including the Eyre Peninsula and Flinders districts.

Mr Taggart said about 29 per cent of survey participants did not know what a bushfire last resort refuge was.

“It’s critical that anyone who lives, works, or travels through an area where a bushfire can occur knows exactly where the safest place to seek shelter is, and that they have a plan,” Mr Taggart said.

He urged community members to prepare their five-minute bushfire plan, and to identify where the nearest bushfire safer place is.

The Adelaide Hills is an area of high fire danger and the mayor of the Adelaide Hills council, Dr Jan-Claire Wisdom, said bushfire planning was not an option.

“It’s critical if you live in, travel through or work in the Adelaide Hills to protect yourself and your community,” Dr Wisdom said.

“Everyone in the Adelaide Hills during the bushfire season needs to undertake bushfire survival planning and this means familiarising themselves with bushfire safer places”.

Emergency Services Minister Vincent Tarzia said some of the state’s high bushfire risk zones are much closer to the CBD than many realise.

“Preparation, careful planning and the use of bushfire awareness tools like the Alert SA App will save your life during an emergency,” he said.