A Statewide Total Fire Ban across Victoria has been declared for Thursday 26 December, with high temperatures expected across the state.
AusNet customers are being urged to prepare for the possibility of power outages, with safety being AusNet’s number one priority.
On Total Fire Ban days, bushfire mitigation technology – Rapid Earth Fault Current Limiters (REFCLs) – is on the most sensitive setting to protect the community.
If a fault occurs on Thursday, it may mean longer outages as we need to do additional checks and patrols to make sure it’s safe to turn the power back on.
When the REFCL technology is triggered, it takes out the whole feeder line to protect the community from potential bushfires, rather than just a single line or a few sections.
Before the electricity can be restored, our crews need to physically patrol the line to locate, identify, and if required, clear the cause of the fault, which is a time-consuming process.
AusNet have put additional measures in place to help manage incidents if they occur including additional crews, 2 helicopters, specialist REFCL engineers to work alongside our control room operators and extra call centre staff.
AusNet’s REFCL’s are located in Bairnsdale, Barnawartha, Belgrave, Benalla, Eltham, Ferntree Gully, Kinglake, Kalkallo, Kilmore South, Lang-Lang, Lilydale, Mansfield, Moe, Myrtleford, Ringwood North, Rubicon A, Sale, Seymour, Wangaratta, Wodonga, Woori Yallock and Wonthaggi. They protect over 40,000 square kms of Victoria - a fifth of the state.
Preparing for power outages
It’s important to be power prepared and know what to do before, during and after a power outage. The tips below will help reduce the impact on you and your family and keep you safe.
Before an outage
- Make sure you have an emergency management plan and know what to do in the event of an emergency.
- Get ready to activate your bushfire safety plan: https://www.ausnetservices.com.au/bushfiresupport
- Put together an emergency kit in an easy to access place and let everyone know where it is. You should have battery operated devices such as a radio to receive important information in the event of an outage and a torch. Make sure you keep spare batteries in there too.
- Check to make sure that your medical supplies are fully stocked.
- Make sure you can open your garage or fence manually so you can leave your home if the power goes out.
- Make sure your phone is fully charged.
- If you have an electric water pump, stock up on bottled water.
If you are a life support customer
- Ensure your management plan is up to date and you are ready to put it into action
- If you require oxygen, make sure the cylinders are filled and working.
- See if you can visit a friend, family member or hospital when the power is out.
- Ask a neighbour to check on you during the outage.
- Keep all important phone numbers handy for example your doctor, the nearest hospital, the local taxi service, and AusNet's emergency number 13 17 99.