Whether you are staying to protect your home or leaving early, it is essential to have water available. Firefighters might need it even if you are not there.
Putting water on fires that threaten your home is the best way to extinguish them. However, during a bushfire, mains water pressure may drop or fail altogether.
Consider alternative water sources such as a nearby pond or dam, creek, swimming pool or water tank. The Tasmania Fire Service estimates that if you are relying on one of these alternative water supplies, in the most intense bushfires you may need up to 10,000 litres or 2,500 gallons of water to defend your home.
You should make it accessible by fire trucks, and it is advisable to have a male 50mm Stortz coupling (the old 64mm 5V thread is still in use and acceptable) fitted to the base of your water tanks to allow for direct connection by firefighters.
If staying and you rely on one of these alternative water supplies and an electric pump, this will be useless if power supplies are interrupted - a generator or a diesel or petrol-powered pump is an important backup.
Pumps can be heavy, so consider mounting the pump on a trolley to make it easier to move around. It is important that all those likely to stay and defend your property know how to start and operate the pump.
Caution: Petrol-powered pumps and generators are suitable if they are shielded from high ambient temperature, which is likely to cause petrol in the carburettor to vaporise and the engine to stall. Petrol engines in above or below-ground insulated boxes and well-ventilated under-floor spaces may continue to operate effectively.
Plastic tanks and pipes melt.
Plastic tanks, exposed plastic pipes, fittings and hoses may melt in the heat of a fire - just when you need them the most.
To avoid this:
- Install steel or concrete tanks. If installing a plastic tank, ensure it is at least 30 metres from the bush, and not too close to any other fuels such as a woodpile, shed, shrubs and other flammable fuels.
- Use metal pipes and pipe fittings rather than plastic fittings above ground, and
- Bury any plastic pipes (PVC and poly pipes) at least 30 centimetres underground.