Welcome to Agritalk Radio.

This week we are going to be talking about the risk of bushfire.

In the last 30 years female casualties in bushfires have been increasing.  Bushfire CRC research has found that women tend to rely on the knowledge of others and have fewer skills in bushfire safety than men.  In a recent study on the Lower Eyre Peninsula 133 women were surveyed.

Approximately 60% reported they had previously experienced a bushfire.
Approximately 82% considered that they or their families were at risk from bushfire.
Approximately 43% nominated the bushfire risk as ‘high’ for their locality,
but interestingly only 22.9% thought their risk to their home was ‘high’.
This variation in perceived risk between the local area and their own home varied for every risk category of ‘high’, ’medium’ and ‘low’.

These results lead to some interesting questions.
Does this mean that properties are well prepared and that is why people see the risk to their own homes as less?

Or is this something that is often seen in bushfire research, where people consistently under estimate the threat to their own properties?

Those who developed the study seem to think that the latter explanation is probably closer to reality.

To avoid feeling anxious about bushfires, we tend to under estimate the risk to our own homes.

However, unpleasant as it may be, the fact is in Rural Australia it is often not a case of ‘if’ a fire will occur, but ‘when’.

Research consistently suggests that empowering people to decide on whether to “stay and defend” or to ”leave early”,
 provided they act on their decision,
 is probably the single most important strategy for protecting people and property for bushfires.

Some of the lessons to come out of this study are;

You must understand that staying to defend your property requires a firm decision and commitment. Late evacuation is not an option.

You must understand what “leave early” means (when and where to go) and must be able to recognise the point at which it becomes too late to evacuate.

If you have decided to ‘leave early’ you MUST prepare your property, both to increase your chances of survival and to provide a safe refuge if opportunities to leave early are missed.

It is important to ‘actively defend’ properties rather than passively shelter.

It is important to be mentally prepared. Practice, practice, practice! Learn stress reduction techniques. Have a written and practiced bushfire action plan.

Realise that you may not get help from volunteer fire fighters.

You may need to provide help for those who cannot or do not prepare. 
 
Preparation of your property, and talking to your household about what plan you have in the event of bushfire, are critical to reduce the consequences of a bushfire. Now is the time to start preparation on your property and to decide if you are going to ‘stay and defend’ or ‘leave early’.

Of all the people interviewed, by the bushfire CRC, both men and women, 81% left too late.

This study was funded by Emergency Management Australia and conducted by the CFS and Rural Solutions SA.  The results of this study will be presented at the International Bushfire Research Conference, being held in Adelaide from 1st September until 3rd September 2008.

For more information on any edition of Agritalk, go to www.ruralsolutions.sa.gov.au click on News then Radio you will find a transcript of this program along with lots of handy links to the things discussed.

 Information kindly supplied by Di Delaine