Prepare your Farm for Bushfires

Agriculture Victoria's Farm Fire Preparedness Toolkit provides practical checklists and templates to help farmers and rural landholders develop or review their fire preparedness plan.

Download the Agriculture Victoria Farm Fire Preparedness Toolkit

The toolkit includes eight checklists and templates covering:

• farm preparedness
• business preparedness
• family and staff briefing
• equipment and asset maintenance
• water supply
• building and vegetation maintenance
• livestock management
• high-risk fire day planning. 

You can also request a hard copy by emailing recovery@agriculture.vic.gov.au.

There are practical steps you can take before the fire season to make your farm easier to navigate and prepare your property for an emergency.

Create a farm map

A farm map can help identify important locations and infrastructure across your property.

Include:

• assembly areas and evacuation or exit points
• farm gates and internal fences
• water sources, water tanks and pumps
• stock refuge areas and stockyards
• potential stock disposal sites
• vegetation.

Share the map with family members and employees.

Check emergency access

Consider whether emergency services can easily access your property.

Check that:

• roadside numbers are visible
• gates are wide enough and easy to open
• access points aren't locked
• vegetation around gates and driveways is clear
• turning circles, culverts and bridges are accessible.

Check your water supply

Your farm fire plan should consider what you will do if your normal water supply fails.

Consider having full water tanks available in key locations around the farm to support protection of assets during a fire.

Manage vegetation and fuel

Before the fire season:

• undertake routine maintenance around your home and farm buildings
• clear long grass and other flammable materials from around homes, yards and sheds
• establish fire breaks.