A State of Fire Emergency has been declared across 42 Local Government Areas in Queensland, following a period of significantly heightened fire weather conditions expected to continue into next week.
The QLD Rural Fire Service has issued fire weather advice for Tuesday 12 November 2019 with the following regions rated as at or above VERY HIGH.
- Peninsula VERY HIGH
- Northern Goldfields and Upper Flinders VERY HIGH
- Central Highlands and Coalfields VERY HIGH
- Maranoa and Warrego VERY HIGH
- Wide Bay and Burnett VERY HIGH
- Southeast Coast VERY HIGH
- Darling Downs and Granite Belt SEVERE
Service providers play an integral role in taking the necessary steps to prepare their sites, staff and clients for the threat of bush fire in their local area and should:
- Stay well informed of current fire activity by monitoring local media & regularly checking for updates on QLD RFS website https://www.ruralfire.qld.gov.au/.
- Contact their local fire authority to discuss implications and possible requirements.
Please also ensure that you have updated daily lists of all of your residents who are on site.
If you think evacuation is a possibility, please consider preparing go bags for residents with a change of clothes and essential medications or emergency aids.
Ensure you have an evacuation plan that includes realistic arrangements for transportation and alternative accommodation relevant to different scenarios (e.g. only your facility is affected or all facilities in the region are affected) and includes provision for care recipient identification and care-plan documents.
Speak with other service providers to identify alternative accommodation in the event that evacuation is required.
Reducing the impact of bushfires is a shared responsibility between government, emergency service organisations and the community.
Fires can threaten suddenly and without warning. At a Fire Danger Rating of SEVERE or above, fires are likely to be uncontrollable. When SEVERE (or above) Fire Danger Rating is forecast, providers need to take warnings seriously and be prepared to act.
Please note that if an evacuation is required, this should be done early. Do not rely on emergency services to assist with evacuation as this may not be possible.
In an emergency please ring 000 (triple 0).
If you need assistance in finding vacancies or resources to support you in managing an emergency please ring the department on 1800 300 125. This number is monitored at all times.