Fire safety starts with kids
Fire safety starts with kids
02 July 2015
published by www.psnews.com.au
Australia– The Rural Fire Service Queensland (RFSQ) is asking Brisbane parents and carers to ensure children know how to call Triple Zero (000) in the event of a bushfire threatening their home.
Acting Brisbane Regional Manager at RFSQ, Robert Walker said people never knew when their children might need to call Emergency Services so it was important that they learned at an early age and understood the type of questions the operator might ask.
It is important that children understand that they need to provide as much information as possible about a bushfire incident as this information will help firefighters to protect life and property during a fire emergency, Mr Walker said.
Mr Walker said children needed to be taught that when they first dialled Triple Zero (000), they would go through to an emergency Telstra switchboard and would be asked which service they required: police, fire or ambulance.
If they require the fire service, the Telstra switch operator will connect them to a Fire Communications Officer, who will ask a series of questions to help identify the nature of the emergency and their location, Mr Walker said.
He said that advising children about the types of questions they could be asked by an operator would prepare them if they needed to call Emergency Services in a real-life situation.
Those questions could include location, the type of emergency, whether anyone was trapped and what was burning.
In Far North Queensland, firefighters are urging residents to familiarise themselves with the Fire Danger Rating (FDR) System.
Acting Northern Regional Manager of the RFSQ, Tony Hazell said it was important for everyone to understand what each level of fire danger meant, whether they lived in the urban fringe or in regional or rural Queensland.
FDR is an assessment of the potential fire behaviour, the ability to suppress fire quickly and the potential of impact on the community should a bushfire occur on a given day, Mr Hazell said.
There are six levels of fire danger rating, ranging from lowmoderate to catastrophic, which take into account forecast temperatures, humidity, wind speed and dryness of vegetation.
Mr Hazell said the FDR indicated to residents the true risk of staying and defending a home, particularly on days with heightened fire conditions.
