Disaster and emergency management

The Department of Fire Emergency Services’ (DFES) My Bushfire Plan is a bushfire preparedness tool, providing the public with one place to prepare, store, print, share and update their bushfire plan anytime, from any device. A bushfire plan can help keep you and your family safe and using the bushfire plan tool enables you to create your own personalised bushfire plan in around 15 minutes.

When a bushfire starts, things can change in a matter of minutes. So, you need to keep connected and updated regularly during bushfire season.

By being alert and following official warnings closely via the Emergency WA website you and your family have the best chance to act early and leave for a safer place. The single biggest killer in a bushfire is indecision.

• Run the air conditioner to wet the filter pads.
• Switch the unit off when smoke is over your home or ash starts to drop around your house.
• If possible, continue to run water over the filter with the fan turned off.
• If water can’t be run on its own, or there’s a power failure, wet the filter pads using a garden hose.
• Keep checking your air conditioner and the area around your home for spot fires from embers until the danger has passed.

Pursuant to section 33(1) of the Bush Fires Act 1954, the City of Fremantle gives notice that the owners and/or occupiers of land within the district are required to undertake the following works on land owned or occupied by them by the 1 November 2023.

When installing a firebreak, the following requirements must be met:

a) Where the area of land is 1500 square metres or less
The owner or occupier is to remove all the flammable matter from the whole of the property, except living trees, shrubs, plants under cultivation and lawns, by slashing or mowing to a height of not more than 50 millimetres or otherwise to the satisfaction of council or an authorised officer.

b) All land having an area greater than 1500 square metres
i) Clear firebreaks of a minimum width of three (3) metres inside all external boundaries of the land and all buildings situated on the land, by ploughing, cultivating or scarifying; or
ii) Mow/Slash the whole of the land. The height of vegetation thereafter must not exceed fifty (50) millimetres over the entire area of land, as far as reasonably practical as determined by the authorised officer.

Failure to comply with the above-mentioned requirements may result in a penalty of up to $5,000 in accordance with the Bush Fires Act 1954. The City may install a firebreak as outlined above, this service will be undertaken on your behalf, and the cost of this service will be invoiced to you. Once your firebreak has been established, it must be maintained until 31 March 2024.

Contact the chief bush fire control officer on 1300 MY FREO (1300 693 736) for more information regarding fire control.

If you want to use a solid fuel BBQ’s or wood fire pizza ovens between the 14 December–31 March, check with DFES as their use may be prohibited. Call the Total Fire Ban Information Line on 1800 709 355.

The City of Fremantle prohibits the burning of garden refuse and rubbish in an incinerator or on the ground all year round. Any person who deliberately lights a fire may face penalties.

To report an overgrown block please call 1300 MY FREO (1300 693 736).

Bush fire prone areas are designated as those areas containing bush fire prone vegetation as well as areas that are within a 100-metre buffer zone immediately surrounding it. Bush fire prone areas are subject to or likely to be subject to bush fire attack in the event of a fire.

Bush fire attack includes embers that may be transported by wind from the bush fire. Information on how to prepare your property and yourself is available on the DFES website.

The Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner has designated all bush fire prone areas in the State. These are marked in pink on the bush fire prone areas map.

More information on bush fire prone areas is available on the DFES website.

If people have any information about a fire or suspect somebody of deliberately lighting fires, they should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Ongoing vigilance by the community in reporting suspicious behaviour and arson will help minimise the likelihood of bush fire.

The CEO has appointed the attached officers for the 2023/2024 period.