The maintenance of landscaping has a significant impact on the vulnerability of your home to a bushfire. You should include regular garden maintenance in your bushfire survival plan. Areas of unmanaged vegetation can increase the impacts of a bushfire. This can reduce the chances of people and buildings surviving the event. You should:

• remove dead leaves, branches and loose bark from trees
• remove dead twigs, leaves and needles from shrubs and other smaller plants
• prune excess foliage (especially dead or dry foliage) from trees, shrubs and other woody plants
• remove the lower branches of trees. This reduces the chances for a surface fire to burn up into the canopy – remove branches up to 1.5 metres above the ground, but specific heights will depend on the age of the tree and its species
• keep all lawn and grasses short to reduce fuel load and minimise the chances of surface fire
• trim trees and other vegetation near powerlines.

It's essential that your property maintains appropriate access for fire trucks in case of a surrounding bushfire. Appropriate access means there is room for the trucks to drive onto your property. It also means the trucks won't be too close to bushes and shrubs.

It's not a guarantee that fire trucks will attend your property in the event of a bushfire. However, having appropriate access for the trucks to get on your property means that if they are available, they can help.

Combustible items and materials should be stored more than 10 metres away from your home or any other structure. This includes woodpiles and rubbish bins. Removing flammable material from around your house lessens the risk that embers will ignite near your house. 

Debris pile-up can pose a risk in an event of a bushfire because:

• embers can ignite debris at the intersection of cladding, decks and the ground
• embers can ignite debris next to the subfloor and the fire can spread to the floor
• glass is vulnerable where embers ignite debris on the ground, windowsills, balustrades, decks, shrubs, and garden beds.

Placing low fuel separation areas between developments and the bush, can reduce the Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) for houses in the development. It uses the open space associated with roads to increase the distance between property and and bushland. This can lower their risk in the event of a bushfire.

You should turn off gas cylinders if you're preparing for an approaching bushfire.

When a gas bottle vents, it can ignite the house or any combustible materials in the path of the flare.  A gas tank that's not secure may fall, and if the tank continues to be heated in this position, it can violently explode. 

These explosions are common after a fire front has passed. They pose a significant threat to people and houses. 

You can protect gas cylinders from falling by attaching them to a solid steel or masonry structure that can't collapse even if the adjacent structure burns.

You can also:

• Refer to local installation regulations.
• Securely attach gas cylinders to a solid structure with a metal chain or cable.
• Ensure the area around the cylinder is clear of vegetation and other combustible materials.
• Use metal connections, pipes and fittings.
• Direct the vent on the gas cylinder away from structures, exit pathways and other vulnerable building elements such as windows, vents and doors.
• Keep gas cylinders safe from direct heat and fire. Use non-combustible enclosures like short brick walls or metal guards to shield pumps from getting too hot.