Get Your Place Fire-Ready

A plain, tick-as-you-go checklist for getting a Beechworth home and household ready for bushfire — the few highest-impact steps first, and CFA's message to decide now, before the day, when you'll leave.

Getting a home ready for bushfire isn't one big job — it's a stack of small ones, and they don't all count the same. Tick off what you've already done and this shows what's worth doing next, starting with the few things that decide most homes.

Why this matters in Beechworth

Beechworth sits in granite, eucalypt-forest country at 560 m, and its fire history is real, not hypothetical: on Black Saturday, 7 February 2009, the Beechworth–Mudgegonga fire killed two people and destroyed 38 homes. CFA's clearest message is that leaving early is the safest choice — most people who die in bushfires die fleeing at the last minute. And most homes are lost to wind-blown embers landing in gutters, against walls and through gaps — not to a wall of flame — so a handful of concrete steps close to the house do the most.

Your home, zone by zone

Start here

You've done 0 of 10 highest-impact steps.

These are the highest-impact steps first. Tick off what you've already done and the list updates.

Agree the Fire Danger Rating that is your trigger to leave — for most people, leave the night before or early on a Catastrophic or Extreme day, before there is any fire. — On the worst days a fire can reach you faster than you can react; leaving early takes the timing out of your hands.
Check the Fire Danger Rating each morning in the Fire Danger Period — on the VicEmergency app or website, or the CFA North East district page. — The rating changes day to day and tells you which days to act on your trigger.
Talk through the plan with everyone in the house — where you'll go, which way out, who collects the kids, who takes pets — and write it down. — A plan only one person knows falls apart on the day.
Clear leaves and bark from the roof and gutters, and keep them clear through the Fire Danger Period. — A gutter full of dry leaves is one of the most common places a home catches from embers.
Point LPG cylinder relief valves away from the house, and move firewood, mulch bags, doormats and outdoor furniture cushions well clear of the walls. — Stacked fuel and a venting cylinder against a wall turn a stray ember into a house fire.

Decide now when you'll leave

The most important part of a bushfire plan is deciding — before the day — the Fire Danger Rating at which you'll leave, and going early. Waiting to see a fire before you go is the plan that gets people killed.

Agree the Fire Danger Rating that is your trigger to leave — for most people, leave the night before or early on a Catastrophic or Extreme day, before there is any fire.Highest impact

On the worst days a fire can reach you faster than you can react; leaving early takes the timing out of your hands.

Check the Fire Danger Rating each morning in the Fire Danger Period — on the VicEmergency app or website, or the CFA North East district page.Highest impact

The rating changes day to day and tells you which days to act on your trigger.

Talk through the plan with everyone in the house — where you'll go, which way out, who collects the kids, who takes pets — and write it down.Highest impact

A plan only one person knows falls apart on the day.

Know Beechworth's Neighbourhood Safer Place — the Police Paddocks on High Street (behind the Police Station, between William and Camp Streets) — as a failed-plan last resort, not a plan in itself.

A Neighbourhood Safer Place gives some protection from direct flame if you cannot leave; it does not guarantee safety and is no substitute for leaving early.

Around the house

Give the house a clear, well-kept space so embers and a passing grass fire have less to catch.

Clear leaves and bark from the roof and gutters, and keep them clear through the Fire Danger Period.Highest impact

A gutter full of dry leaves is one of the most common places a home catches from embers.

Point LPG cylinder relief valves away from the house, and move firewood, mulch bags, doormats and outdoor furniture cushions well clear of the walls.Highest impact

Stacked fuel and a venting cylinder against a wall turn a stray ember into a house fire.

Keep grass short — CFA advises under 10 cm — and clear dead leaves, twigs and loose bark from close to the house.Highest impact

Short, green, well-watered ground carries fire slower and cooler.

Prune tree branches so none overhang the roof or touch the walls.

Overhanging branches carry fire straight onto the house.

Maintain a defendable space around the house — space out shrubs and trees so flames can't run from one to the next.

Breaking up the fuel stops a ground fire climbing its way to the house.

The house itself

Embers find the gaps — under the roof, through vents, beneath the deck. Close them.

Screen or seal gaps embers can get through — evaporative-cooler vents, weep holes, under-floor and roof-space vents, and gaps under doors — with fine metal mesh.Highest impact

Most homes that burn are lost to embers getting inside, not flames outside.

Enclose or screen the space under decks, verandahs and the floor, and keep it clear of anything that burns.Highest impact

The space under a deck is a classic ember trap.

Have hoses long enough to reach every side of the house, and a water supply you can use if the power and mains fail — a tank, pool or a pump that doesn't need mains power.

On a bad day the power and the town water pressure can both go before the fire arrives.

Test anything that's part of your fire plan — pumps, sprinklers, generators — before the Fire Danger Period, not on the day.

Equipment you've never run is equipment you can't rely on when it counts.

Getting out

If your trigger is met, leaving has to be quick and clear — sort that out before the day.

Pack an emergency kit — medicines, important documents, phone charger, water, sturdy clothing and boots — and agree a meeting point and an out-of-area contact.Highest impact

Know two ways out of your area by road, in case fire or a fallen tree closes one.Highest impact

A single road out can close exactly when you need it.

Make your house number clearly visible from the road, day and night, so a fire crew can find you.

Keep the driveway clear enough for a fire truck — branches cut back, any gate able to be opened.

Nothing here is saved or sent — it's just for you, on this page.

Your home, zone by zone

Start here

You've done 0 of 10 highest-impact steps.

These are the highest-impact steps first. Tick off what you've already done and the list updates.

Agree the Fire Danger Rating that is your trigger to leave — for most people, leave the night before or early on a Catastrophic or Extreme day, before there is any fire. — On the worst days a fire can reach you faster than you can react; leaving early takes the timing out of your hands.
Check the Fire Danger Rating each morning in the Fire Danger Period — on the VicEmergency app or website, or the CFA North East district page. — The rating changes day to day and tells you which days to act on your trigger.
Talk through the plan with everyone in the house — where you'll go, which way out, who collects the kids, who takes pets — and write it down. — A plan only one person knows falls apart on the day.
Clear leaves and bark from the roof and gutters, and keep them clear through the Fire Danger Period. — A gutter full of dry leaves is one of the most common places a home catches from embers.
Point LPG cylinder relief valves away from the house, and move firewood, mulch bags, doormats and outdoor furniture cushions well clear of the walls. — Stacked fuel and a venting cylinder against a wall turn a stray ember into a house fire.