Houses, sheds and other buildings or structures burnt in a rural fire can leave potential health hazards including fallen objects, sharp objects, smouldering coals, damaged electrical wires, leaking gas and weakened walls.
Hazardous materials to be aware of after a fire include:
Check with your local emergency services that it is safe to return to your property. Where possible, try to avoid taking children onto fire-damaged properties. If you do, ensure they remain protected at all times.
Rural fires generate large amounts of smoke and ash, and your tank water could have become contaminated from debris and ash or dead animals. If the water tastes, looks or smells unusual do not drink it or give it to animals.
All foods that have been fire-damaged or affected by heat should be thrown out. This includes all perishable and non-perishable foods, for example, cans or packaged foods. Power outages can leave perishable foods that may have been refrigerated unsafe to eat
Returning to your property may be stressful and exhausting. It is important that you look after yourself and access mental health and counselling services if required.
Anyone experiencing persistent issues impacting their day-to-day lives are encouraged to talk to their General Practitioner or regular health care provider.
The ANEPC have provided the following advice concerning actions following a fire.
There is also a practical guide for people who have been affected by forest fires in Portugal issued by the Centro e a Direção-Geral da Saúde (DGS) in Portuguese that can be downloaded here.
All prevention and protection information is from official sources.
Recent rural will have lasting effects on the landscape, and create a heightened risk of flooding for years to come. Locations that are downhill and downstream from burned areas are highly susceptible to Flash Flooding and Debris Flows, especially in and near steep terrain. In some areas, where the fire burned hot enough or long enough, soils develop a layer that actually repels water, like rain on pavement. Rainfall that would normally be absorbed by the forest canopy and loose tree litter and duff on the ground will instead quickly run off.
Because of this, much less rainfall is required to produce a flash flood, and the potential for debris flows increases with the loss of plant material that holds the soil in place. A good rule of thumb is: “If you can look uphill from where you are and see a burnt-out area, you are at risk.”
What is a debris flow?
Debris flows are fast-moving, deadly landslides. They are powerful mixtures of mud, rocks, boulders, entire trees – and sometimes, homes or vehicles. You’ll often hear “debris flows” called “mudslides” or “mudflows”. Many people use the terms interchangeably, but to scientists, each is a different kind of landslide and debris flows are the most powerful and dangerous of the three.
What causes a debris flow?
Debris flows occur most commonly during intense rain after wildfires. A debris flow doesn’t need a long rain or a saturated slope. It can start on a dry slope after only a few minutes of intense rain.
“Intense” rain means a burst of rain at a fast rate, about half an inch in an hour. With debris flows, the rainfall rate matters more than total rainfall.
Why are debris flows so dangerous?
Debris flows are fast and unpredictable. They can travel faster than you can run – and they can catch up to your car! Also, no one can say precisely where a debris flow will start or where it will go. It may begin in a stream channel, then jump out and spread through a neighbourhood. A debris flow may happen where others have occurred, or in a place that has never seen one before.
More information and how to be prepared