Preparing your tourism business

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Visitors look to local businesses for help and advice. Help your customers stay safe by giving them information about Fire Danger Ratings and restrictions in Summer. If your business operates in a high bushfire risk area, you also need a fire plan. CFA offers a free, 30 minute e-learning module to help you create one. Having a fire plan will help protect your business, your staff and your customers before and during a bushfire.

Key Advice

Create a fire plan tailored to your business with CFA's free Bushfire Planning for Tourism Businesses online learning module and bushfire planning template.
Share your business bushfire plan with your staff and run fire drills to build up confidence.
Delegate roles and responsibilities for each staff member if a fire were to happen.
Display the daily Fire Danger Rating and talk about it with your customers.
Use the Fire Danger Rating to guide your day-to-day decisions and actions in Summer.
Know when to close and leave the area due to the threat of fire.

The importance of bushfire planning for tourism businesses

If your tourism business operates in an area where bushfires or grassfires can occur, it's important you have a fire plan and train your staff in fire safety.

You need a fire plan for your business, even if you runs tours, hikes or experiences in the bush and don't have a fixed location.

It's part of your duty of care to provide a safe workplace for your employees and a safe experience for your customers.

A fire plan can help you:

reduce the risk of fire to your business
meet your duty of care as an employer
protect your community
communicate with customers on fire danger days
know which tasks to prioritise before and during Summer
understand how to respond to the Fire Danger Rating each day
train staff to know what to do if they're caught in a bushfire.

Creating a bushfire plan for your business

No two businesses are the same, and that's why every tourism business will have a unique fire plan. What your plan contains depends on the services you offer and the various risks that come with them.

Factors affecting your bushfire plan:

property access
the environments you take your clients into
reliability of phone reception and internet connection
languages spoken by your visitors
fire awareness of your visitors
whether visitors are having a one-off experience or staying overnight or for multiple days.

If people stay overnight at your property, we recommend reading about fire safety for accommodation providers.

Tourism Business Bushfire Plan template

CFA has created a bushfire planning template for you to fill in with an individual plan for your tourist business.

Writing your plan down will help you be more prepared for Summer.

Download: Tourism Business Bushfire Plan (PDF 1MB)

What your bushfire plan needs to contain

The safety of your staff, visitors and customers needs to be the focus of your bushfire plan. This includes making sure you and your visitors can respond well to the fire conditions each day.

It should also include information about property maintenance and preparation to do in the lead up to fire season. Tasks like pruning trees and other vegetation helps to reduce the impact of ember attack and radiant heat during a fire.

Actions to be taken before and during summer need to be clearly defined and understood by your team.

Roles and responsibilities of each staff member

Make sure every staff member knows their roles and responsibilities if a fire were to start nearby.

Examples of jobs to give your staff might include:

Monitor VicEmergency App or ABC radio for updates
Contact visitors or clients currently on site to ensure they are aware of the fire and sources of information.
Contact visitors or clients off-site or due to arrive that day.
Get emergency equipment ready to use, such as pumps and water supply

Preparations before Summer

Reduce the fire risk around your property before Summer with the following actions:

Keep wood piles away from the property
Keep gutters clear of leaf litter
Prune trees and shrubs
Keep grass cut to less than 10cm
Remove any dry grass, leaves, twigs and loose bark

Prepare your staff before Summer

Make sure your staff are ready for fire season:

Share the business bushfire plan with all staff
Go over staff roles and responsibilities
Encourage staff to download the VicEmergency App to receive emergency warnings
Have your staff complete CFA's free Bushfire Safety for Workers online learning module? It will help them prepare them for the fire season.

Bushfire Safety for Workers online learning module

This free CFA online learning module is for anyone who works in a high bushfire risk area over Summer, including hospitality staff and other tourist business staff.

It covers topics including:

your fire risk
how to be prepared
how to stay safe on the road
how to survive and stay safe

During Summer

Check the Fire Danger Ratings regularly in summer to be aware of that day's rating and the ratings for the rest of the week.

Know what actions to take based on the Fire Danger Rating, and what to communicate to your customers and visitors.

Stay across current fire restrictions.

Fire Danger Rating information on display

CFA recommends having Fire Danger Rating and fire safety information on display at your business during Summer.

Visit your local CFA office for resources to use or order online from Tourism Victoria.

Information in different languages

If you have visitors who speak a language other than English, consider providing fire safety information different languages.

Below you can find Fire Danger Rating information in the most commonly spoken languages other than English.

Other language translations.

Link actions to the Fire Danger Rating

There are four Fire Danger Rating levels: Moderate, High, Extreme and Catastrophic.

The higher the rating, the more dangerous fire conditions will be.

Your bushfire plan needs to set out what you will do at your business based on the fire danger. Below are examples of actions you could include in your plan at different fire danger levels.

Moderate Fire Danger

Plan and Prepare

Actions you might want to include in your bushfire plan at this fire danger level:

Display Fire Danger Rating signage for visitors.
Do regular garden or building maintenance to reduce fire risk.
Check and maintain fire equipment on site.

High Fire Danger

Be Ready to Act

Actions you might want to include in your bushfire plan at this fire danger level:

Display Fire Danger Rating signage for visitors.
Check that visitors know what the rating level means.
Encourage visitors to download the VicEmergency app.
Make sure emergency equipment is ready to be used.
Make sure staff are aware of their roles and responsibilities if a fire were to occur.

Extreme Fire Danger

Take action now

Actions you might want to include in your bushfire plan at this fire danger level:

Display Fire Danger Rating and Total Fire Ban signage for visitors.
Check with customers that they know about the Fire Danger Rating.
Check that visitors know what the rating level means.
Encourage visitors to download the VicEmergency app.
Make sure staff are aware of their roles and responsibilities if a fire were to occur.
Make sure emergency equipment is ready to be used.

Catastrophic

Leave bushfire risk area

Actions you might want to include in your bushfire plan at this fire danger level:

Staff meeting at the start of the day.
Check with customers and clients they know the Fire Danger Rating.
Check they know what the rating level means.
Fire equipment set up and operationally ready.
Roles and responsibilities of each staff member clear.
If you're in a bushfire risk area, leave the area early in the morning or the night before.

Display your fire plan and practise it

Having your business fire plan on display means staff can see it daily and learn their roles and responsibilities based on the Fire Danger Rating.

Run regular fire drills with your staff in the lead up to fire season. Practising your plan will help your team feel more confident and prepared in a crisis.

Need help creating a tourism business fire plan?

We've designed an interactive planning tool to help you create a fire plan for your tourism business.

CFA Bushfire Planning for Tourism Businesses

This FREE e-learning module is designed to help you create a fire plan for your tourism business and help keep your staff and customers safe.

It only takes 30 minutes to complete. It covers:

An icon in the form of a stylised light bulb. understand your local risk