If you're stuck, Inspector Shepherd says your best chance of survival is sheltering in a building and fighting the fire from inside.

If you're caught in a car, you'll need to try to position it away from the fire front and away from trees. Put your hazard lights on and sound the horn in case other vehicles are nearby. Turn off the engine and close the windows. Lie down below window level and cover yourself with a blanket to protect from radiant heat. A grass fire might take a couple of minutes to pass. A forest fire could take between seven and 10 minutes.

Avoid being caught on foot at all costs – but if you are, make sure you are covered and try to find a rock, log or ditch to shield yourself.
“What we don't want to see you do is choose to stay and defend and, at the last minute think, I can't do this and try to leave.”

While the deaths on Black Saturday made radiant heat Victoria's biggest bushfire killer, in NSW – which has not seen bushfire deaths on the same scale – the biggest killer in bushfires is heart attacks.

Article Source: Sydney Morning Herald