Know your fire warnings

Reducing stress in emergency situations is at the core of a Country Fire Authority caution for people to familiarise themselves with different fire warning levels.

There are three levels of warnings, which include an ‘emergency warning’, ‘watch and act’, and ‘advice’.

An emergency warning is given to a situation where people are in immediate danger and need to take immediate action.

A watch and act warning means an emergency is approaching, conditions are changing, and people need to take action to protect themselves and their family.

An advice warning is designated to an incident that is occurring or has occurred in a person’s area, where conditions should be monitored.

Country Fire Authority community engagement coordinator Jenny Mcgennisken said warnings come through a range of channels including radio, the Vic Emergency smartphone app and website emergency.vic.gov.au.

She said the warnings were designed to let people know as clearly as possible when there is a genuine emergency, and when worrying is unnecessary.

“Quite often fires will put up quite a lot of smoke into the air which results in nearby residents feeling concerned and even calling triple zero – in this situation we will always try to issue an advice message to tell people they are not in danger,” she said.

Ms Mcgennisken said the level of the warning depended on the threat and warnings could be issued in any order.

“Fires can start, spread and homes quickly,” she said.

“The first warning issued might be an emergency warning, the highest level of warning.

“An emergency warning might tell you to leave if it is safe to do so or might tell you it is too late to leave.”

Ms Mcgennisken cautioned that residents should avoid being reliant on receiving a message directly to a landline or mobile because these forms of communication were just one way of warning communities.

“Telephone or emergency alerts are a fantastic system that has been developed over the past few years, but you shouldn’t rely on this ahead of active checking and monitoring,” she said.

“The first warning issued might be an emergency warning, the highest level of warning” – Jenny Mcgennisken

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