Schools bushfire plan causing confusion

by SANDI MILLER
13th February 2026

ON FEBRUARY 2, 2026, the Fire Danger Rating (FDR) for the Central district was High — with a rating 46 on the Fire Behaviour Index — the trigger for an Extreme FDR is 50.
However, the FDR for many of the municipalities in the Central district was rated Extreme, which triggered the closing of local schools and/or relocation of students to home learning or to another site.
This is due to a policy by the Department of Education (DoE), which uses the Local Government Area-level forecast provided exclusively to them (and other Government agencies) by the Bureau of Meteorology to determine the local FDR.
In October 2025, this happened to schools in bushy areas of Manningham and Nillumbik, but the February 2 closures impacted the Central district more broadly and highlighted the widespread confusion about the DoE’s bushfire policy.
So what happens?
In Victoria, schools, kindergartens, and childcare facilities assessed to be at the highest risk of bushfire are placed on the education department’s Bushfire At-Risk Register (BARR).
This register includes all schools, kindergartens, and childcare facilities in Warrandyte, North Warrandyte, Kangaroo Ground, Research, Park Orchards, and Wonga Park.
The department says inclusion on the BARR is a trigger for action, including:

• (Category 1-2) pre-emptive relocation, learning from home, or closure action plans for schools and co-located services at the highest risk due to a forecast elevated FDR in their local government area.
• (Category 3) pre-emptive closure for schools and early childhood services on all days forecasted by the Bureau of Meteorology to be Catastrophic FDR in their fire weather district.

Independent schools, even if they are on the BARR are advised about fire ratings, but as far as the Diary can ascertain, they are not compelled to follow the directions of the DoE.
Warrandyte Primary School and Andersons Creek Primary School, along with their associated out-of-school-hours-care programs, are both Category 1.
They relocate students to schools in Templestowe on Extreme fire-rated days, and Warrandyte High School, at Category 2, relocates classes to Templestowe College.
However, Yarra Warra Preschool is in Category 3 and will only close on Catastrophic days.
Although the LGA level forecasts are not publicly available, a DoE spokesperson said the policy was developed to keep students in school, where possible.
“Using local government fire danger ratings set by the Bureau of Meteorology to determine the approach taken on extreme weather days ensures a more accurate assessment of local conditions and risks.
“Families are always encouraged to implement their own bushfire survival plan, including decisions on school attendance”.
BOM has previously told the Diary it has no plans to make the data publicly available.
Captain of Warrandyte CFA, Will Hodgson, said the Department of Education is moving children out of those locations into a safer environment, where the department is comfortable with the safety of students.
“The Education Department directs the school, so the Education Department contacts the schools and tells the schools what they’re going to do — the principals act on the directive of the DoE.”
Captain Hodgson also said it is then up to families to determine how the school closure (or otherwise) is going to fit in with their personal fire plan.

“It’s going to be also a personal choice on how you behave, just because the education department makes a call, don’t wait for an organisation to tell you when you should or shouldn’t enact your own plan and make sure it’s safe for you.
At that trigger point, are you going to a shopping centre or going to a friend’s home in Metropolitan Melbourne?
At 3:30pm, are you picking your kids up and bringing them back to Warrandyte if that was part of your original plan?
As a parent, I can tell you that with kids who go to local primary schools, we also lose before-school care, and after-school care, and you’ve got to drive 20 minutes to drop your kids off, and you’ve got to drive 20 minutes to pick them up.
You get them back at 3:30pm on a fire risk day.
Where are you going?
Are you driving back into risky Warrandyte, which could be going through a wind change?”

With the Seasonal Outlook forecasting a higher risk to forested areas in February and March, it is likely we may have more days where the district level rating is High, but the local conditions are deemed Extreme, which means parents and students will need to have a plan to react to these disconnects at short notice.
Captain Hodgson also wanted to stress that, as the DoE uses LGA-level data, just because schools on the BARR are open or closed in Manningham, it does not mean an equivalent school will be in the same situation in Nillumbik, Yarra Ranges, or Cardinia.