In between emergency calls, firefighters carry out prevention and preparedness activities such as inspections on fire hydrants, fire education for school and community groups, and pre-incident planning.

Hydrant inspections involve locating in-ground fire hydrants, often identified by a yellow plate in the road, nature strip or footpath. Firefighters remove any overgrown grass or weeds, check the serviceability of the hydrant and repaint it yellow for ease of visibility. Firefighters do this to ensure they can quickly find the hydrants in an emergency. Members of the community can help firefighters by not parking their cars over these hydrants.

Pre-incident planning on larger commercial premises entails firefighters inspecting buildings and learning how best to access them in an emergency, particularly in an after-hours incident when there may be no employees on site.

Crews also gain valuable knowledge of any site hazards, dangerous goods and the location of isolation points for energy sources such as electricity or gas.

Having this type of information before attending any potential emergency at the site can greatly assist firefighters, help save lives and reduce the amount of damage caused by a fire or hazardous materials incident.