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Emergency Management Australia advises that you prepare early for the season by removing rubbish and forming a firebreak around the home, storing combustibles such as leaves and twigs clear of the house, fitting wire screens to doors, windows and vents and checking that you have appropriate insurance cover in case things do turn disastrous. There is also advice on how to cope if you are caught by bushfire while in your car or on foot.
The NSW Rural Fire Service, which worked so hard over Christmas and New Year to control ferocious bushfires burning across the state, has a wealth of information on its community safety page. Even if your property is not threatened but your district is under a total fire ban, you can find out what the restrictions are and how long they last.
The RFS has a link to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, which also has some great information on fire and related behaviour. Then, as part of its building innovation and construction technology section CSIRO gives advice on fireproofing your house. The organisation gives an example of a "bad candidate for survival", which has dangers such as overhanging trees, leaves in the gutter, a combustible doormat and a woodheap under the house. You can also see what research CSIRO is undertaking into bushfire management and read its fire fact of the month - from "the fire triangle" (fire, air, fuel) to the characteristics of a fire front.
The State Forests of NSW has a simple summary of dangers to look out for when buying land, ways of planning a garden to minimise bushfire impact and the types of trees that are less likely to fuel a fire.
An old but good article on bushfire in Australia, including its history before white settlement and of forestry management entitled Special Article - Bushfires - An Integral Part of Australia's Environment, can be found on the Australian Bureau of Statistics Web site - go there and then search for "bushfire"). The final chapter, The Nature of Bushfire Disasters - Past and Future, summarises the social impact of bushfire and has a table on the most significant single fires in Australia before 1995.
The NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service has a neat section headed "Living with fire" which has information on why fire can be important for the Australian landscape. You'll also find updates on park closures and fire warnings on the site, while another section on the often controversial issue of bushfire and land management explains why planned fires "are an important weapon against fire hazards".
For more information on the pros and cons of back-burning, the Nature Conservation Council of NSW has an index dedicated to ensuring "all Bush Fire Management activity is ecologically sustainable while protecting life and property".
For volunteer firefighters one of the best Australian sites is Firebreak, which began as a communication tool for conveying information to bushfire fighters in the Australian Capital Territory. It explains the basics of bushfire fighting, control and command issues and has many photographs of past bushfires in the ACT region. Under "Resources" there is a link to weather calculators and a way of assessing if your house will survive.
A stark reminder of the destructive bushfires last Christmas are satellite photographs on the NASA site, showing plumes of smoke rising from the east coast.
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