Preparing your business for a bushfire

Businesses located in bushland or in rural areas are generally at higher risk of bushfire than those living in cities or major towns. Understanding the threat and peak bushfire seasons across Queensland means you can be better prepared.

Bushfires can cause serious damage to property, equipment, and infrastructure as well as cause loss of life. Radiant heat, heavy smoke and toxic fumes from bushfires can also impact your business. Following alerts and warnings from local authorities can save your life.

View the current bushfires and fire warnings in Queensland.

Make a plan

To prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters and emergencies, your business should develop the following types a of plans:

Note: By law, you must have an emergency plan for your business.

Before a bushfire

Pack a business emergency kit and store it in a place that is easy to access.

If a natural disaster strikes and you need to evacuate, having an emergency kit can help keep your business running in another location.

Stay informed

Prepare for a fire

  • Install fire protection equipment appropriate for your workplace (e.g. foam or dry powder extinguishers for flammable liquids).
  • Maintain fire protection equipment, including regularly checks and tests by the suppliers, with maintenance contracts in place.
  • Train staff to use fire protection equipment.
  • Read information on fire extinguishers (PDF, 988KB), including the different types of extinguishers and how to use them correctly.
  • Prepare an emergency evacuation plan and develop evacuation procedures (e.g. assembly points, shutting down operations) – make sure staff know their roles and responsibilities.
  • Practice evacuating your business.

Prepare for a bushfire

  • Develop your bushfire survival plan, including how to evacuate and when to leave.
  • Learn about the risks of bushfire smoke and how to manage them.
  • If you plan to stay and defend your property, activate your plan and ensure you have a water supply of at least 10,000 litres (independent of mains supply).
  • Clear vegetation, gutters and loose equipment around buildings and access points.
  • Form a firebreak around your buildings.
  • Limit or stop farm machinery activity on Severe, Extreme or Catastrophic days.
  • Refuel and identify where to relocate equipment and vehicles.
  • Fit metal or wire (not plastic) screens or shutters to doors, windows and vents, and enclose all gaps (if applicable).
  • Make sure there are no gaps between shed cladding and the ground or slab to prevent embers getting inside.
  • Store flammable materials (e.g. wood, gas, petrol and paint) well clear of buildings.
  • Keep ladders available for roof access (inside and out).
  • Fit hoses to reach all parts of the building and gardens (if mains pressure water not connected, get a high-pressure pump).

Prepare crops for a bushfire

  • Heavily prune or harvest crops where possible.
  • Create fire breaks around crops.

Prepare livestock for a bushfire

  • Make a plan for safeguarding animals and livestock – download Get Ready Queensland’s Livestock severe weather emergency plan (PDF, 2.2MB).
  • Prepare a stocktake of feed, animals, infrastructure, equipment and fencing and keep records off your property.
  • Relocate livestock to safer ground and ensure they are branded or microchipped.
  • Open gates to allow animals to escape bushfires. Keep a map of your property and where animals are located in case others need to assist.
  • Remove rugs and halters from horses as they can burn or melt.
  • Make sure you have sufficient fodder, medication and water supplies for animals post-disaster.

When planning for an extreme weather event consider alternative ways to operate if power, supplies, buildings, properties, roads and communications are cut off or unavailable.

  • Plan for extended power outages by getting a generator and fuel.
  • Ensure you have enough stock, supplies or spare parts in case your power or access is cut off.
  • Identify alternative off-site locations to operate from.
  • Plan for flexible staffing arrangements (e.g. work from home, online meetings).
  • Plan how you will manage work orders, cancellations and following up on your insurance.
  • Plan for supply chain disruptions.
  • Before summer, check your insurance is up to date and adequately covers your business, assets and any rebuilds or repairs that may be required.
  • Photograph equipment or assets to show pre-event condition.
  • Review and document how you will manage orders and cancellations.
  • Check you have financial reserves and emergency cash on hand.
  • Backup your data and store off-site or use cloud storage.
  • Save digital copies of key business documents, for example:
    • insurance
    • business registration
    • property deeds
    • key contracts
    • licences
    • certificates
    • awards.

During a bushfire

Phone Triple Zero (000) in a life-threatening emergency.

  • During a bushfire emergency, follow the directions of the authorised fire officers and emergency services advice to shelter or evacuate.
  • Activate your incident response plan (includes emergency plan)
    • unplug electrical equipment, shut down master electrical board and gas supply
    • collect your emergency kit
    • evacuate premises if required.
  • Learn more about clearing during bushfire emergencies.

After a bushfire

Grants, payments and other financial help are available to businesses after a natural disaster.

Initial recovery (hours and days following event)

  • Return to premises when safe and secure dangerous debris.
  • Assess damage to buildings, assets, vehicles and equipment.
  • Assess damage to livestock, crops, fences etc.
  • Record decisions and photos and/or videos of damage in an event log for insurance claims.
  • Estimate repair, replacement or relocation costs.
  • Contact your insurer if you:
    • aren't sure the event is covered by insurance – you may be able to claim under your business interruption or income protection insurance
    • have lost your policy documents – your insurer will have a copy.
  • Contact the Insurance Council of Australia (phone 1800 734 621) if you have questions about your policy or don't know who your insurer is.
  • Check if your insurance policy:
    • funds clean-ups
    • requires authorisation before repairs begin
    • provides emergency or advance funds for wages or recovery activities.
  • Gather all information about the claim:
    • complete an event log
    • items to claim and when purchased
    • equipment, furniture etc. that had you've had to throw away
    • photo and/or video evidence.
  • Make a claim and resolve issues:
    • lodge claim as soon as possible – don't wait for a full damage assessment before making a claim
      • insurers must fast track a claim if you can demonstrate 'financial need' (read item 64 of the General Insurance Code of Practice) – if the insurer agrees, an advance payment must be made within 5 days
      • your insurer must inform you of their decision to accept or deny your claim 10 business days after receiving all relevant information and completing all enquiries
    • contact the Australian Financial Complaints Authority on 1800 931 678 if you can't reach agreement with your insurer
    • phone Legal Aid Queensland on 1300 651 188 if you need information and advice on how to get a claim paid.

Contact your bank

  • Ask your bank about financial hardship options, for example:
    • changing loan terms
    • temporarily pausing or reducing repayments
    • deferring repayments and interest payments (all missed payments and interest will need to be repaid)
    • waiving fees and charges
    • consolidating your debt
    • finance to help cover cash flow shortages
    • deferring upcoming credit card payments
    • increasing emergency credit card limits
    • waiving early termination fees to access term deposits.
  • Provide loan details (account name and number, payment amounts) and an overview of your financial situation.
  • Request a hardship variation by using the sample letter generator from the Financial Rights Legal Centre to send to your bank.
  • Your bank must advise you within 21 days about your hardship request. If you can't negotiate a variation, you can:

Contact your utility providers

Contact your utility providers' hardship team about electricity, gas, phone or water bill payment options.

Early recovery (days and weeks following event)

  • Keep your staff up-to-date on changes to the workplace or processes as you clean up and recover.
  • Check what support services are available to staff.
  • If you have to temporarily close your business or reduce operations, consider how you will manage your staff during this time. Make sure you're aware of your legal obligations as an employer, especially if you plan to:
    • stand down staff
    • ask staff to take paid or unpaid leave
    • assign staff to different roles or locations
    • end employment.
  • Learn more about employment entitlements during natural disasters and emergencies from the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Business viability

Livestock farms

Review your finances

  • Contact your accountant to:
    • identify how long you can operate with reduced or no revenue
    • identify how long you can continue to pay staff and creditors before your business would be trading insolvently
    • identify if or when you would need to lay off staff
    • develop a plan to pay creditors on payment plans where possible.
  • Taking stock of your business is CPA Australia's kit to help you assess your financial position.

Get financial help

  • Connect with other businesses in your industry and disaster recovery centres to find out how you can help your community, or they can help you.
  • Accept community support – people want to help and you are not alone.

Long-term recovery (months or years following event)

  • Look after the mental health and wellbeing of your staff and family, as well as yourself.
  • Consider alternative roles or tasks for staff.
  • Stay connected to your local community, industry and neighbouring businesses.
  • Remember it's okay to accept assistance, even if you think others are worse off.

Repairs and rebuilding

Use the Bushfire Rebuild Register to find licensed contractors who are available in your area to help with repairs or reconstruction.

Business viability

  • Consider how to reduce the impact of future events on operations and buildings.
  • Record lessons learned from your business recovery (e.g. adequacy of insurance policies, and IT, accounting and record-keeping systems).
  • Update your business continuity plan, and business policies and procedures.
  • Review and update your emergency plan and procedures.
  • You may decide not to continue with the business in its current form. Other options may include:

Livestock farm recovery

  • Keep livestock away from fire affected areas, particularly where vulnerable to erosion.
  • Consider reducing, selling and relocating (to agistment or feedlots) stock numbers to improve profits and breeding.
  • Monitor and manage weeds
  • Reassess or create a livestock record keeping system.
  • Control feral animals to reduce grazing pressure.

Crop farm recovery

  • Identify and target crop diseases. Grow Help Australia can test some crops for diseases and pests.

Rebuild your financial position

Business support services

Communication tips

Communication is crucial before, during and after a fire. Your staff and customers need to know if the fire has impacted your business, if you will close and when you will reopen.

Consider who your business might need to communicate with before, during and after a severe weather event.

Think about how you will communicate if there are power outages.

Key stakeholders may include:

  • staff
  • customers or guests
  • clients
  • suppliers and distributors
  • banks and insurers
  • industry body or association
  • regulatory body or agency.
  • We value all of our (customers/clients) and will keep you updated as best we can.
  • We are well prepared for events like this and have activated our response plan.
  • Our business will close from (time/date) until it is safe to return and resume operations. Please stay safe and follow emergency services advice.
  • Please stay safe and follow emergency services advice.
  • If you are in a life threatening or dangerous situation or require emergency assistance, please phone Triple Zero (0. For all other weather event updates visit (provide details).
  • Please listen to the advice of emergency authorities at all times.

Initial recovery

  • We have been following authorities' advice and plan to reopen our business as soon as it is safe to do so.
  • Our doors may be temporarily closed, but you can still buy and order online. Visit our website at (add your website address).
  • We wish all of our customers and clients a safe recovery.

Later recovery

  • We are now open for business and ready to welcome our customers back.
  • Please be patient with us as we work to resume full operations.
  • You can continue to contact us on (provide details).
  • In the meantime, please visit our website (provide website address) to place an order.

Go back to the Small business disaster hub.

  • Last reviewed: 3 Oct 2024
  • Last updated: 23 Oct 2024