Preparing for bushfire season without duplicating emergency plans

Western Australian organisations with regional sites face predictable bushfire risk each summer. Many already possess bushfire response procedures. The problem is duplication — and contradiction — when those procedures ignore the organisation’s master continuity framework.

One hierarchy, multiple scenarios

Your continuity plan should identify critical activities and decision authority. Bushfire-specific appendices add seasonal triggers: smoke visibility thresholds, Fire Danger Rating actions, and evacuation routes per site. They do not re-define who approves client notifications or supplier substitutions.

Site maps matter

Generic “evacuate to the carpark” instructions fail when the carpark is the exposure zone. We walk each site boundary with facilities staff and mark assembly points on plans attached to the appendix. GPS coordinates help regional crews unfamiliar with local geography.

Communication during smoke events

Mobile networks degrade when towers lose power or congestion spikes. Continuity plans should list satellite phone numbers, radio channels, and a rule for when the executive team delegates authority to the site incident controller. Bushfire appendices reference those channels rather than inventing new ones.

Exercising before November

Tabletop exercises in September — before fire season intensity — give staff muscle memory. Scenarios can combine bushfire threat with a concurrent IT outage to test whether your crisis team can handle layered incidents.

After the season

Log what worked and what failed. Feed lessons into the annual continuity review. Fuel reduction and asset hardening projects belong on the risk register with owners and budgets, not in a forgotten exercise report.