Preparing your home for Fire Danger Season in Adelaide, Adelaide Hills and Victor Harbor
Your home care package can be used in many different ways to support your health and wellbeing, including preparing your home to reduce the risk of a bushfire during fire danger season.
The fire danger season in Adelaide began two weeks earlier this year on November 15, 2019, because of the drier and hotter conditions this year.
As an older Australian, and especially if you are living on your own, we can help you plan ahead to prepare your home and make sure you’re ready should you need to take action during a bushfire.
Ways to reduce the risk of a bushfire during fire danger season
A home care package can be put to good use prior to bushfire season. We can arrange for jobs to be done around the house and property to minimise the risk of a bushfire occurring. We would recommend the following:
- Clean your gutters and downpipes of dry leaves and other debris
- Sweep the home surrounds so that dry leaves and bark does not collect in corners
- Regularly mow the grass and rake the leaves
- Regularly water the lawn to keep it moist and in good health
- Keep garden beds moist by using mulch to cover them, this will also reduce water usage
- Prune bushes and trees
- Store anything that is flammable such as woodpiles, green waste or rubbish, away from the house
These basic steps will increase the safety of your home, yourself and your family and give you more peace of mind. We can coordinate these trades as you need them and your home care package will cover the fees.
Be prepared for a bushfire if it happens
The South Australian Country Fire Service website has plenty of information about preparing for bushfires. The interactive maps indicate which regions have fire risks and anything else you need to know about bushfires in your region.
There are three different warnings that the CFS issue:
- Bushfire Advice – an incidence is occurring
- Bushfire Watch and Act – an emergency is developing nearby
- Bushfire Emergency Warning – you are in danger and need to take action
These incidents do not necessarily come along in any order, so the best advice is to be prepared:
- Have a transistor radio always handy with spare batteries for radio updates
- Keep important documents in one place in case you need to get to them in a hurry – passports, advanced care directives, wills, and anything else you feel is important
- Keep woollen blankets ready and available for protection
- Have your 5-minute bushfire plan ready
- Discuss your bushfire plans with family and friends
- Have an emergency kit ready
- Know when you should leave and where to go
- Check sites such as South Australia Weather for updates on fire bans
Useful links for fire danger season and bushfire information in Adelaide, Adelaide Hills and Victor Harbor
Here are useful links and sites to stay up to date with bushfire information in South Australia.
- Stay tuned on radio stations - ABC Radio is the official emergency broadcaster and local ABC radio stations broadcast alerts relevant to their area; FIVEaa Radio; Sky News Television; Commercial Radio Australia
- Subscribe to CFS alert emails
- Call the Bushfire Information Hotline on 1800 362 361
- Follow the CFS on social media: Twitter - @cfsalerts and @cfstalk; Facebook - SA Country Fire Service and CFSUpdates.
Please note this information is a guide only and correct at the time it was published. Please connect with any of the above links to get up to date information.
Call one of our Home Care coordinators to discuss how we can help you get your home bushfire-ready
Please visit St Louis Home Care at 11 Dudley Street, Marryatville, or St Louis Home Care at 31 Victoria St, Victor Harbor, to pick up a CFS flyer about bushfire safety and say hello. You can also call St Louis home care Adelaide on 8332 0950 or St Louis home care Victor Harbor on 8552 1481 to discuss how we can use your home care plan to prepare your home for a safer bushfire season.
