Wow. I'm glad your family was okay.

Same kind of catastrophic fire in Paradise CA last Nov. the whole town burned down and 85 or so people died in their homes and their cars. (Not for sure how many cuz there were folks living off the grid in those mountains.)

How traumatic. I’m glad you all got out safely.

it happens maybe every 5-7 years, somewhere in the country. When it does, the skies are red-orange for weeks, due to the pollution from the fires - you can look at the sun without being affected, because it's so blocked out. The Fireies (firefighters, in Aussie slang), will be slogging their guts out (working damn hard), in 12+ hour shifts, for days / weeks on end. They will travel across the country to help out the area affected. You'll see them in petrol stations, refuelling their trucks, to go back out. Thousands of volunteers ("SES" fire fighters) will take time off work, and fight for days / weeks, at their own cost. The public will band together to help the fireies, and those affected. You'll see the public paying for the fireies meals / coffees / water when then come into town to refuel. You see the best of people, in the worst of times. It's one of the truly brilliant things about the Aussie culture.

Too often. People have whinged about "the firefighters didn't come to our place". I want to slap them with a wet fish.

Happened twice in Queensland last year :( Around this time (way too early for bushfires) near where I live, later on up north. Then there was the flooding that killed millions of cattle and wildlife :(

exactly, leave before a fire starts, you won't be able to leave if you wait until after it starts.

Mind you.... I've known many Aussies who are just very chill about it. Was visiting a friend who lived within a block of bush land / national park /national forest. It was on fire. I ran back to their house, panicked, telling them. You could see it from their house. This is in a highly populated suburb of Sydney. My friend's mum's response? "oh, that's ok. They'll tell us if we need to leave". Like.... WTF??!!?? My own ditzy mum had the same attitude in her RURAL area surrounded by bush. You'd be surprised at how many rely on "someone" to tell them what to do, vs chosing to recognise danger for what it is, and get the hell out!. As an adult, when I've lived in such an area, everyone in the household had a "go bag", including one for the family (with general basics for the group / the car eg copies of documents / id that others had in their bags, just in case their bags got lost etc). If things got dicey, everyone just grabbed their bag, and off we went!!

What Magpie said!!! I've known toooooo many Aussies who were just way too chilled about it, including my own parents. Me? Got my "go" bag... as does everyone in the house. :D Makes the whole "lets get outta here... go grab the cats" sooooo much calmer / easier.

It is winter here, perfect time to practice your escape plans. How big a bag do you need to hold essential items. Get your *written* list sorted out and keep it somewhere sensible. Cannot stress enough *practice *. So when all hell breaks loose and you / the kids are scared: you all already know exactly what to do, and how.

No. You leave even if there is no fire. When it's 46 degrees celsius (115 Fahrenheit) and wind up to 100km per hour if you live in a fire prone area you take your most valuable things and you stay somewhere else until the conditions change. In those conditions you cannot outrun the fire, if you see it coming it's too late, and a fire can start spontaneously in more than one spot. So if the weather means the fire danger is catastrophic you get out regardless of whether there is a fire or not.

We have weather updates and all bushland areas are monitored during summer. The fire brigade and the government send out alerts if there is a fire warning. Sadly they're a part of life in Australia during summer due to the eucalypt forests, and the climate.

The fire will be in the area and you will be watching the wind and weather reports in case it is going to swing your way and also the Rural Fire Service reports to see if it is out of control. If it is you start packing your car and have it ready to go with passports, birth certificates and pets....

The fire authorities have info from the weather people. Plus conditions reports. Like how dry and hot is the ground / the wheat / the trees in specific areas. Not sure if you can see this site outside of Australia, and it is just for one state. https://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/warnings-restrictions/total-fire-bans-and-ratings/

Ah, Hael Smith and Ursula Walker -- that makes sense! Wasn't sure from the comment if that was the case or if you just had to sort-of sense BEFORE any fire started. We had a bunch of wildfires in Texas back in 2011, when we had a severe drought, and for the first time in my life I had to have a wildfire evacuation plan and have the Most Important Things close at hand in case we had to evacuate. I still have that list, but also still hoping we don't have another drought that bad in my lifetime.

No. You just pay attention to your local environment, the recent weather and the forecast for tomorrow.

They don't mean leave before the fire has even started. They mean if they tell you the bushfire will be at your place within 12 hours you leave then, not in 10 hours.