Bushfire safety guide: 10 steps to prepare your farm and equipment for the bushfire season

According to the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), Australia is prone to more severe and dangerous bushfires and earlier fire seasons that are lasting longer these days. So if you are living in rural or bushfire prone areas, it is very important that you know what to do to ensure you, your property and equipment will survive the scorching season.

Basic safeguards, such as having a plan and creating firebreaks should be second nature, but it's so easy to get tied up in the daily grind and forget to implement safety measures ahead of time.

You can even be lulled into a false sense of security knowing you have the latest farm equipment in operation, but latest does not mean it is completely safe.

For example, this time last year, 70,000 current-model Ford Ranger PXII utes and 20,000 Mazda BT-50 utes were recalled due to a fire risk caused by diesel particulate filters operating at very high temperatures in the undercarriage.

Speaking at the time, Western Victorian grain farmer, Michael Sudholz, said his Ford Ranger started spot fires on his farm causing him to lose 60ha of crop and stubble, including about 40ha of standing wheat.

With that in mind, here's a checklist of 10 things you need to tick off before the weather gets too extreme.

The most important step you can take to protect your farm or acreage is to have an overall fire safety plan so you know what to do if something does happen, said Victorian Country Fire Authority (CFA) community engagement coordinator, Kevin Sleep.

“It's all about having that plan and then communicating the plan to the family and having the resources on hand to control any fire if it does break out,” he said.

In a nutshell, make a plan and share it with those who matter.

The area around your property and your assets - such as hay stacks, machinery sheds, fuel depots and the home - should be slashed or mowed.

“If you’re in a cropping situation, you need to have a fallow break around your paddocks,” Sleep said.

“If you’re harvesting, you need to go in and do a couple of laps with the front of the header down as low as possible, to just reduce the volume of fuel.”

The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) stressed the importance of keeping the home garden well-maintained with short, green grass close to buildings.

"Prepare fire breaks ahead of the fire season by mowing, grazing, brush cutting or ploughing around buildings, crops, pasture, storage areas, along key fence lines and other exposures," the organisation said.

"Fire breaks should, where practical, be designed to avoid trees or to provide an additional break around the trees themselves. Work with your neighbours to construct effective fire breaks."

You should also trim branches away from power lines.

Make sure that all your machinery - from tractors to slashers and harvesters to welders are all running properly and are fitted with approved spark arrestors. They need to also be equipped with the right exhausts and that they are being maintained properly.

The South Australian Country Fire Service (CFS) stated that any internal combustion engine must have an exhaust system where all engine exhaust emitted by the engine or vehicle exits through the system, which is designed to prevent the escape of burning material.

In addition, the system must be designed in a way that heated parts of the system do not come into contact with flammable material.

"Keep machinery clean of oil and grease and lubricate regularly to prevent overheating of bearings and other parts," the CFS stated.

The CFA's Kevin Sleep agrees. “With headers, you need to blow dust off it every day,” he said.

“Make sure that it's all clear around the manifold, the turbo or the hotspots. You need to check bearings and moving parts regularly.”

Make sure you clear the immediate area of flammable materials before undertaking any machinery maintenance, and store petrol and fuel safely away in a shed.

It’s essential to have a transportable water tank on your property. This could be a ute with a water tank on the back, a tank mounted on a trailer, or even a water tanker previously used by a local fire authority. You’d be looking at carting a minimum of 400 litres of water each time.

Sleep said the tank needs to be moved from paddock to paddock when you’re moving your header, and should be reported as a private support unit to your local fire authority.

“The CFA relies heavily on private units to suppress fires during the summer,” he said.

“We have a check-list for the operation of these units, which takes farmers through the details of what's required to make them safer to operate.

“They need to report to the incident controller on the fire ground if they're supporting the CFA with a private unit,” Sleep added.

According to the RFS, it is your legal responsibility to, where practical, ensure that fire does not escape your property.

Farmers are encouraged to have a dry chemical extinguisher in each and every vehicle on their properties – be they tractors, headers or other equipment.

Sleep said while you are required to have a 9-litre water extinguisher on all farm equipment, it’s a very good idea to carry a dry chem extinguisher as well.

“It gives you a better option if you have an electrical fire,” he said.

“It’s far more suitable than a water extinguisher and you have a little bit more protection by having both extinguishers.

“Also, make sure you have an understanding of how to use them and what fire you can use each extinguisher on, too.”

Farm utes are a major concern and need to be checked regularly They also need to be operated with care in paddocks and should never be driven into full stubble or full crop.

This is especially important if they've travelled any distance and the motor is hot, Sleep said. This is of particular concern with newer models as they tend to burn a lot hotter with the new exhaust emission technology.

“People have got to be very careful when they enter a paddock that they don't cause a fire,” he said.

“The same with trucks being brought in by contractors. They're better off parking it out on the road and taking the tarp off to let the motor cool down a bit before entering the paddock. This will reduce the risk of starting a fire from exhaust systems.”

It's no good doing everything you can but your neighbour isn't taking the same precautions.

Sleep encouraged farmers to discuss their plans as a community.

“Farmers have radios in their headers, trucks and tractors,” he said.

“If conditions are getting too hot and windy, they can get on the radio and have a chat to their neighbours and say, ‘Hey, I'm considering knocking off because it's gotten too windy. What are you up to?’ And just remind one another that the conditions are deteriorating and maybe they should knock off too.”

The Voluntary Grain Harvesting Guide is a table used to calculate the grass fire danger index when undertaking any grain harvesting and grain handling operations that occur in the paddock, including the operation of grain harvesters, operation of vehicles involved in transporting grain, grain dryers and grain augers.

The guide is available for Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia, but can be used as a general guide for everyone living in fire prone areas.

Sleep recommended using a Kestel wind gauge to first measure the temperature, relative humidity and wind speed before doing the calculations on the table, and then consider calling it a day or not.

“If the temperature reaches 40 degrees, the relative humidity reaches 15 and the wind speed is greater than 26, that'll give you a grass fire danger index of 35 and that's the suggested level where you cease harvesting,” he said.

The Voluntary Grain Harvesting Guide is available to download from the Victorian CFA website, the NSW Rural Fire Service website, as well as the South Australian Country Fire Service website.

The tables are also available in sticker or laminated card format at community meetings and major events such as shows and field days.

If you have livestock on your property, Sleep recommended preparing a paddock preferably on the eastern or south-eastern side of your property for them in the event of a fire.

“Have a paddock that's been eaten out, and make sure that you can move the stock into that paddock quickly.

“Also, have plenty of water supply within that paddock in troughs and so forth.

“Also maintain the fences around it so stock doesn’t get out,” Sleep added.

“Having cattle and sheep on the road during a fire is not only dangerous for the animals but also dangerous for the public, fire services or emergency service personnel moving around that area.”

It is too easy to be caught in the wrong place during a bushfire just as you’re minding your own business around the farm, so you should always carry an emergency kit containing first-aid supplies and important contact details.

"You need to have a first aid kit set up to deal with minor burns and injuries, and also your vet contact details and fodder contact details," Sleep said.

"So if everything's burnt out, you can still contact a fodder supplier to feed your stock. If you have any stock that needs vet support, you've got numbers that you can call."

Once you tick off this list, you should be well prepared. But just remember to never be complacent and think ‘she’ll be right’. Fire spreads easily and fast and can often jump on you without warning, so be well prepared for what may come your way. Prevention is always better than cure.