Queensland Bushfire Season 2014-5
 

Queensland is looking at another long hot dry bushfire season.

Make sure you're prepared if you are in an area likely to be affected by bushfires - and remember, thats not just remote areas. Only last week there was a fire out of control in Cashmere, a north Brisbane suburb.

PREPARE ACT SUVIVE is produced by Queensland's Rural Fire Service and can help with survival kits and plans.

The Rural Fire site, and the main Queensland Fire and Emergency Services site have updates on live fires, and these are also posted on Twitter and Facebook.

Emergency Alert (EA) may be used if your area is threatened by bushfires - this is not just for Queensland and not just for bushfires, so be familiar with it:

Emergency Alert is the national telephone warning system used by emergency management agencies. The system sends voice messages to landlines and text messages to mobile phones within a defined area, about likely or actual emergencies such as fire, flood, or extreme weather events.
You don't have to register for the service, nor can you opt out of it.


Anyone interested in volunteering for the Queensland Rural Fire Service - see here :

http://www.ruralfire.qld.gov.au/Volunteering/

We have several Rurals on the site already in various States who can tell you what an important role they play.

Re: Queensland Bushfire Season 2014-5
 

Warning to ‘be prepared’ as conditions near-perfect for catastrophic bushfire season

RESIDENTS living near bushland have been warned to “get escape plans ready’’ as southeast Queensland braces for an early and potentially catastrophic bushfire season.

Firefighters have stepped up surveillance in a number of forest areas which they suspect are being targeted by firebugs.

Re: Queensland Bushfire Season 2014-5
 

So, what's happened so far, people?

I spent the first fifteen years of my life on a sheep farm on the Darling Downs. That was sixty years ago now, but I still feel a passing interest in what happens in that part of the world. When our family was on holiday down on the South Coast one year, Dad had to rush home to help fight the bushfires, while Mum and we kids and the baby stayed behind. My brother and I attended the local state primary school for three months. I can identify with the worry.

Re: Queensland Bushfire Season 2014-5
 

Not too serious as yet, the Firies have got most blazes under control fast, though some in inaccessible areas have burnt for a while.
Worst one so far was probably the one at Mount Morgan, believed started by a guy who ran from police and hoked up in a house, setting fire to the land around it. Police couldn't let the firies in as the suspect was armed, and boats, cars and caravans were lost but fortunately the fire crews got in just in time to save the neighbouring houses from going up.