Driving in an Emergency: Road Closures and Fires
A car feels like safety. It is enclosed, it moves, and it is what you evacuate in. Both of the worst outcomes in Australian disasters happen inside one.
Flood deaths in this country are dominated by vehicles. And on Black Saturday, of the 173 people who died, 16 died in or near cars — a smaller number than those who died in houses, but almost all of them people who left too late and were caught on the road.
The car is a tool for leaving early. It is a poor place to be when the thing has already arrived.
The 10-minute version
- Never drive into floodwater. Not slowly, not in a 4WD, not “it’s only a bit”. This is the rule with no exceptions, and it is the single deadliest driving decision in Australia.
- Leave before you need to drive in smoke. Visibility drops to metres, embers cross the road, and other people are all doing the same thing at once.
- Drive your second route once, in daylight, before the season. Most households have never driven the road they are planning to escape on.
Floodwater: the rule
If it is flooded, forget it. There is no version of this with a judgement call in it.
- Depth is deceptive from a driver’s seat, and moving water floats a vehicle far more easily than people expect. Once it is moving you have no control at all.
- You cannot see whether the road still exists. Culverts collapse and bitumen washes out underneath the water.
- Water hides debris, and a floating log will stop you dead.
- A 4WD does not change the physics. Higher clearance means it floats a little later, and then floats.
- This applies to walking too. Fast-moving water can take an adult off their feet in surprisingly shallow depths, and floodwater is contaminated.
If your vehicle does get caught in rising water: get out immediately while you still can and get to higher ground. If it is already moving or the doors will not open, get out through a window, and if the car is filling, wait for the pressure to equalise before opening a door. Call 000, and 132 500 for SES.
The whole strategy is not to be there. Route planning below.
Smoke
Bushfire smoke reduces visibility to metres, and it does it faster than you expect.
- Headlights and hazard lights on — low beam, because high beam reflects back off smoke.
- Slow right down. The realistic speed in heavy smoke is 20–40 km/h.
- Close the windows and set the air to recirculate.
- Follow the centre or edge line, not the tail-lights in front of you, which may be stopped.
- Do not overtake. You cannot see what is coming.
- If visibility drops to nothing, pull as far off the road as you can, keep lights and hazards on, and stay in the vehicle. Stopping in a live lane is how the second crash happens.
If you are caught in a fire in the car
This is a last resort and the outcome is not guaranteed. It is still much better than driving on blind or getting out into radiant heat.
- Park in the clearest area you can find — a wide gravel shoulder, a ploughed paddock, a rocky clearing. Away from dense vegetation and away from the fuel that will burn hottest.
- Nose the car towards the oncoming fire, if you can tell. The engine block gives a little protection.
- Engine off, headlights and hazards on so you can be seen.
- Windows up, vents and air conditioning off.
- Get low, below the window line, on the floor if possible.
- Cover yourself with a woollen blanket — the reason wool blankets are in the go-bag rather than synthetic ones, which melt.
- Stay in the vehicle while the front passes. Radiant heat outside is what kills; the car is a poor shield but a real one.
- Drink water. Dehydration comes on fast.
- When the front has passed, get out and move to burnt ground, which cannot burn again.
Route planning: the part that prevents all of the above
Drive your second route. Once, in daylight, before the season. This is the single highest-value twenty minutes in this article, and almost nobody does it. Households routinely discover their alternative road is a dead end, a locked gate, a single-lane track through the exact bush that will be burning, or a low crossing that floods first.
Have three routes if you can: primary, secondary, and a direction of last resort.
Carry a paper map of your region with the routes marked. GPS fails when the network does, and closures do not appear on it.
Know where the low crossings are on each route. In flood, those close first and often without warning.
Fuel above half a tank through the season. Petrol stations need power to pump, so an outage that covers your suburb covers the servo.
Park facing out, on the far side of the house from the bush.
What actually goes wrong
Driving into water. The dominant cause of death, and the most preventable.
Leaving too late, which converts a safe drive into a dangerous one.
Following tail-lights in smoke into a stationary vehicle.
High beam in smoke, which blinds the driver.
Never having driven the alternative route.
Relying on GPS, which does not know about closures and needs a network.
Low fuel.
No shoes, no water, no blanket, no torch in the car — because the evacuation happened at 3am.
Driving through a fireground to get home. The road may be open and the fire may not be over. If police or fire crews have closed a road, that is not a suggestion.
Thresholds
| Situation | The rule |
|---|---|
| Any water across the road | Turn around. No exceptions, no vehicle type, no depth judgement |
| Fire danger Extreme or above | Leave before you would need to drive in smoke. Fuel above half |
| Heavy smoke | Low beam and hazards on, 20–40 km/h, windows up, recirculate, follow the line |
| Visibility near zero | Pull well off the road, lights and hazards on, stay in the vehicle |
| Caught by fire | Clear area, nose to the fire, engine off, windows up, low, wool blanket, stay in |
| After the front passes | Move onto burnt ground |
| Road closed by police or fire crews | Do not go around it |
| Before every season | Drive the second route in daylight. Mark it on a paper map |
What it costs
| Tier | Spend | What it buys |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Driving the second route, keeping fuel above half, parking facing out, knowing the flood rule |
| Solid | ~$60–120 | A printed regional map, a torch in each car, a 4 L water container, sturdy shoes in the boot |
| Better | ~$200–350 | A car kit: wool blanket, first aid kit, two wide elasticised bandages, jumper leads, tyre plug kit, work gloves, P2 masks. See Car Emergency Kit |
| Regional | ~$350–600 | A UHF radio or satellite messenger, for the roads where there is no coverage and no traffic |
The drill: the pre-season drive
Twenty-five minutes, once a year, in daylight.
- Five minutes. Get a paper map of your region and mark your primary route out.
- Fifteen minutes. Drive the secondary route, all the way to where it joins a main road. Note gates, single-lane sections, low crossings and dead ends.
- Three minutes. Mark that route on the map, with the problems noted, and put it in the glovebox.
- Two minutes. Check the boot: shoes, torch, water, blanket. Fill the tank.
Then do the same for the route from work to home, and the route from the kids’ school — the three journeys you are most likely to be making when it happens.
Frequently asked questions
Is it ever safe to drive through floodwater?
No. Moving water floats vehicles at depths that look trivial from the driver’s seat, the road surface underneath may already be gone, and a 4WD does not change the physics. Flood deaths in Australia are dominated by drivers.
How do you drive in heavy bushfire smoke?
Low beam headlights and hazards on, 20–40 km/h, windows up with air on recirculate, and follow the painted line rather than the tail-lights ahead. If visibility disappears, pull well off the road and stay in the vehicle with lights on.
What do I do if I get caught in a fire in my car?
Park in the clearest area available, nose towards the fire, engine off, lights and hazards on, windows up, vents closed, get low below the window line and cover yourself with a woollen blanket. Stay inside until the front passes, then move onto burnt ground.
Why wool and not a normal blanket?
Wool chars; synthetic fleece melts onto skin under radiant heat. It is the same reason the clothing advice for bushfire is cotton, wool or denim rather than activewear.
What is the most useful thing I can do before fire season?
Drive your alternative route in daylight, all the way through. Most households have never done it, and it routinely turns out to be a dead end, a locked gate or a road that floods first.
Should I trust GPS during an emergency?
Not on its own. It needs a network, it does not know about closures, and it will happily route you through a fireground or a flooded crossing. Carry a paper map with your routes marked.