Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service (NTFRS) are reminding Territorians to be proactive about reducing bushfire risk on their properties and having a bushfire survival plan.
At a recent fire incident in the Darwin rural area, firefighters found a property that was inadequately prepared for the risk of fire and subsequently sustained damage to vehicles, machinery and out buildings.
Preparing and maintaining your property for bushfires year round is a Northern Territory landowner or occupier responsibility. Managing your property for fire reduces the threat of bushfires to you and your property, makes communities safer, and allows for you and firefighters to better defend your property. There are many common things that landowners or occupiers can do to manage their properties for bushfires, but there may be many more specific to your property you can do which will help you manage your property for bushfires.
The NTFRS encourages you to;
- Maintain four (4) metre wide fire breaks within the perimeter boundary of your property,
- Clean gutters and cut back vegetation from around buildings,
- Store flammable or hazardous material, such as stored vehicles and machinery, in locations fire cannot spread,
- Reduce fuel loads by controlling weeds on your property throughout the year,
- Ensure property identification and numbering is clearly visible from the road
- Ensure safe access to your property for emergency response vehicles,
- Prepare and practice your bushfire survival plan.
Assistant Chief Fire Officer Joshua Fischer said “Where landowners or occupiers fail to maintain their property for fire, they may be subject to an infringement notice or other enforcement actions. We would prefer that you assist us now in preventing an emergency before it is too late. Maintain your firebreaks, reduce the accumulation of flammable material and act by keeping informed of Fire Danger Ratings and Bushfire Alerts, be ready to implement your Bushfire Survival Plan”
