If you are in or close to the bush, leave now. If you choose to stay, we may not be able to save you. Save woollen blankets to wrap yourself in if the fire comes. If you are trapped in your car, face the oncoming fire, close windows and doors tightly, and get down below window level.

Towards the end of last year, a friend and I sent each other emails full of the thoughts you try not to give voice to. If we were going to be preppers, where would we choose to live? If we bought a block of land in the country, where would we buy? Personally, I’ve always been keen on East Gippsland. The conversation continued. Should we be more concerned about rising sea levels, drought or bushfire? Were we planning on growing vegetables? Keeping chooks? My friend worried about what to say to their children. How bad could it be, we wondered. Bad, we decided. When it happens, my friend added, it’s going to happen quickly.