How to prepare for a bushfire

There are four key steps to staying safe, creating a bushfire plan and preparing for an emergency.

In an emergency, things can change quickly. It’s important to get reliable, current information from a trusted source.

Follow the advice of your state-based bushfire responder. The links below will take you to the website of your state’s bushfire agency where you will find extra advice and response information.

Other recommended sources of up-to-date information are the ABC Emergency page and Bureau of Meteorology weather warnings online.

As part of your bushfire plan, know who you will need to contact in an emergency and where your emergency meeting place will be.

• Swap phone numbers with a neighbour or other local contact you can reach out to in an emergency.
• Follow your local area social media feeds to connect with people in your community.
• Make sure your key contacts know where you intend to go if there was a bushfire, and if necessary, what plan you will make to meet them there.
• Know the plans of your children’s school or care centre should there be a bushfire emergency.
• Plan for where your pets or animals might need to go if there is a bushfire emergency.

Important personal and insurance documents will make recovery following a bushfire emergency easier.

Scan, or copy and keep safe, important documents that assist in proving your identity or ownership of your property. Here's a checklist you can use.

Ask your doctor to store important medical information, including the names and doses of medications.

Pack important documents, items you’ll need to survive a bushfire and items precious to you and important to your recovery

Important documents include passports and driver licences, land titles and mortgage papers, marriage and birth certificates, insurance papers and medical documents.

Survival items are things you’ll need if there’s no water or power, or if roads are cut off and shops are closed. Here's a checklist to start your survival kit.

Recovery items are things that can help life get back to normal. They can include:

  Sentimental things like photos and jewellery
  Children’s toys
  Laptops and chargers to stay connected, entertain and have important documents or archived photos to hand