Fire safety experts warn rural and regional communities, such as the New England, have heightened risks when it come to bush fires and residential fires, and knowing what to do and how to prepare can save lives.
Jackson Holt, NSW State Manager with Brooks Australia says while firefighters are invaluable in protecting communities during natural disasters, emergency services often need to travel considerable distances to respond to house fires in rural and regional areas. In these critical moments, a working smoke alarm and a home escape plan can provide life-saving seconds for residents to make it out safely.
“One of the challenges facing people, particularly in the New England area, is they can be quite far from a neighbour and few emergency services in general, when it comes to needing help,” said Holt.
“We need people to be prepared, to be planned and ensure they have all the safety measures in their house that can ensure that they can get out safely in the case of a natural disaster or just a house fire in general.”
In just two to three minutes, a small fire can engulf a room, leaving little time to escape. Yet shockingly, nearly half (49 per cent) of Australian homes impacted by fire either had no working smoke alarms or none at all, putting countless lives at risk.
“That’s the scary time frame when you think about how quickly you need to react. If you’re asleep., you need to wake up, you need to get yourself out of the bed, and you need to get yourself out of the house. This is not the time to be making decisions in this moment.”
“So, if you’re pre-planned, you’ve got an emergency evacuation plan in place, you’ve potentially got all your belongings ready to go, or you’ve got a box with all your special belongings that you may need to take in the instance of a fire or evacuation, these things can be really helpful because you can effectively grab what you need, grab your family, get in the car and leave, and potentially save your life.”
Other dangers exist beyond house fires, with smoke alarms still playing a critical role in bushfire emergencies, helping emergency services locate and evacuate people in danger and assist in containing fires by providing early alerts.
“Smoke alarms are the single most crucial point to fire safety,” said Holt.
“A lot of people don’t understand that they do collect dust and bugs quite easily. So, ensuring they are cleaned out and just testing them every 12 months, making sure that they’re beeping and working, because the one time that you don’t test them might be the time that you need them to work.”
Sharing is caring and its important the whole family knows the evacuation plan, kids included, when it comes time to act, everyone know where to go.
Need help to get fire safe, plan your evacuation or just want more safety tips, visit brooks.com.au.
Advertising with New England Times is a cost effective and reliable way to reach New England locals who are interested and engaged. Find out more here.