Firefighters, NRL stars and other top athletes are urging households across the state to make sure they have working smoke alarms fitted in their homes, as Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) launches its annual Winter Fire Safety Campaign.
New figures reveal that last winter, nearly half (49 per cent) of the 1,080 homes that were impacted by fire did not have a working smoke alarm, or any alarm, in place.
Winter in 2022 was particularly deadly for house fires, with a record 17 deaths – more than four times the total of the previous winter – and 87 people injured. During that season, exactly half of the 959 houses that caught alight did not have a working smoke alarm.
FRNSW is amping up its efforts to warn people about the dangers of smoke alarm complacency, enlisting the help of sports stars in a social media campaign to better connect with communities and establishing its own awareness day, Smoke Alarm Action Day.
Sports stars including netball star Maddy Turner (NSW Swifts/Australian Diamonds) and a range of NRL players including Tom Burgess (South Sydney Rabbitohs), Jaydn Su’A (St George Illawarra Dragons), Stephen Crichton and Georgia Ravics (Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs), and Suia Wong and Keeley Davis (Sydney Roosters), will feature in social media video messages encouraging households to fit a smoke alarm in their home or have their existing alarm checked.
FRNSW will hold its inaugural Smoke Alarm Action Day on 1 June to kick off the agency’s Winter Fire Safety Campaign and mark the commencement of a dangerous period for house fires.
FRNSW also conducts community outreach programs to engage culturally and linguistically diverse communities in smoke alarm and fire safety messaging.
Residents can book a home fire safety visit when firefighters can install smoke alarms free of charge and find further advice on the FRNSW website at www.fire.nsw.gov.au/visits.
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