Community
18 October, 2024
Learn more about places of last resort
THE Country Fire Authority (CFA) south west district community safety branch is teaming up with local brigades across the district to provide information sessions on Bushfire Places of Last Resort.
Also known as a Neighbourhood Safer Place or NSP-BPLR, these are places within a township where residents can take shelter if all their other fire plans fail during a bushfire.
Residents can recognise an NSP-BPLR by a green and white sign which includes the words ‘Bushfire Neighbourhood Safer Place - A Place of Last Resort’ or ‘Bushfire Place of Last Resort – Neighbourhood Safer Place’.
The Bushfire Place of Last Resort Fire Safety Information sessions are a series of 22 one-hour sessions being held across the south west district, with six being held within the Corangamite Shire.
Members of the CFA will speak with residents about the importance of a place of last resort but will also cover how fire behaves in the area; how the emergency warning system works, and where residents can get information during an emergency; and how residents can prepare themselves and their property for the upcoming fire season.
CFA community liaison bushfire engagement Eddy Rees said the main aim of the sessions was to encourage people to create their own bushfire plans and get to know their place of last resort.
“They’re aptly named a Bushfire Place of Last Resort, with the emphasis on the word last, meaning that if they have got nowhere else to go - and they get caught - being there is safer than being in their property,” he said.
“Having said that, when they are there, it will be uncomfortable.
“There will be lots of smoke; it will be hot; there will most likely be no protection for them there – it is unlikely there’ll be a fire truck there for example – and there certainly won’t be anything where they can get food, drink or water.
“They may be there for some time.”
Mr Rees said the sessions will also cover the Fire Danger Rating system.
“We’ll be talking about understanding the fire danger rating and what they mean, and the emphasis with the fire danger are not whether the fire might start on those days – a fire can start any day – but the rating will indicate how severe that fire might be,” he said.
“On a catastrophic day, that will be a day where the temperature is probably be over 40 degrees, there’s an extremely strong northernly wind, and the fire will travel extremely fast, it will be extremely hot, and it will take out everything in its way.
“The CFA’s message – what we would prefer people to do – is, on a catastrophic day, to leave early.
“Don’t wait for a fire to start – leave early and go somewhere safer.
“Certainly, on other really hot days like extreme days, people with specific needs should consider leaving early and heading to a safer place.”
Mr Rees said that, in some townships, there may not be a place of last resort at all – residents are encouraged to check with their local councils for the locations of their places of last resort.
“The place of last resort is the last resort if you have nowhere else to go,” he said.
“We don’t want a person to think ‘it’s a catastrophic day today, I’m going to drive down at 8am this morning and camp at the place of last resort for the day’ - there will be no support for them at all.
“Go to a safer place the night before or early in the morning.
“Make sure you have the VicEmergency app on your phone.”
Sessions in the Corangamite Shire include:
Derrinallum – Saturday, October 26 from 11am at the Derrinallum Recreation Reserve on the Hamilton Highway;
Lismore – Saturday, October 26 from 1pm at the Lismore Recreation Reserve on Seymour Street;
Camperdown – Saturday, November 2 from 11.30am at 253 Manifold Street;