Download part 2 - Country Fire Authority

Remember: Only stay with your home if you have properly prepared it for the event of
a bushfire. If your home has not been prepared prior to a bushfire then
make the decision to leave the home early before the fire approaches
and makes it difficult and potentially dangerous to leave.
Refer to the fact sheet "Surviving a Bushfire" for additional information.
Following the group discussion and report back session, encourage each group to
design a poster demonstrating personal safety procedures to carry out in a bushfire
at home, in the car and wherever you are.
Language
Write a letter informing someone of the potential fire hazards around the home and
recommend changes they could make to protect their home in a bushfire.
Potential risk factors could include: leaves in gutters; wood pile leaning against the
house; shrubs planted close to the house; tall eucalypt trees planted close by; tan
bark, dry leaves and twigs lying on the ground near the house and only one road
access into the property.
Think about how these risk factors increase the fire risk.
In groups, students write and then act out a play based on being "Trapped in a
bushfire". Tape-record sound effects for the play. For example: crushed cellophane
for a bushfire, tap running for water in a fire hose, hand splashing in a bucket of
water for nearby river noises and blowing in an empty bottle for stormy weather.
Art/Craft
Invite an architect to visit the class and talk about buildings and homes designed for
fire safety.
Students design a fire safe house. Provide a description outlining features of the fire
safe house and make a model of the house.
When designing a fire safe house, students should use their knowledge of surviving a
bushfire to help them.
Compile a class list of safe house design features. For example: single storey,
concrete floor or built close to the ground, solid brick walls, solid timber doors, lowpitched
roof, window shutters, flywire screens on windows, chimney cover, metal
sheeting on the roof and a layer of aluminium foil placed above and below the wooden
rafters in the roof.
Students could also consider designing safety areas around the house. Safety designs
could include: a sprinkler system installed around the house, two roads into the
property and a swimming pool/water tank/dam built close to the house.