Fire and Rescue NSW continues flood clean-up - Northern Rivers/Hawkesbury
Published: 17 Mar 2022 12:59pm
Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) remains in the flood-affected zones of the Northern Rivers and the Hawkesbury today continuing to help with the mammoth clean-up effort.
For more than a week, FRNSW crews have joined with residents, the Australian Defence Force, Resilience NSW, the NSW Rural Fire Service and other emergency agencies removing ruined furniture and other debris from damaged homes.
Firefighters have been separating whitegoods from other refuse for pick-up, hosing out mud-caked homes and even draining swimming pools to prevent mosquito infestation.
They have also been cleaning out businesses, removing rotten food from discarded fridges and in one case, a team of firefighters removed a spa that floated onto a property at McGraths Hill, in Sydney's north-west.
In just one week, authorities have removed more than 100-thousand tonnes of rubbish, more than the total amount of debris collected after the flood disaster in the Port Macquarie area last year.
Fire crews are continuing to use Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), or drones, to assess damage; the FRNSW Hytrans Bulk Water Transfer Unit has been used to pump out millions of litres of water from flood areas; whilst firefighters continue to provide safety and technical advice to homeowners wherever needed.
Footage from Hawkesbury cleanup can be obtained here:
https://vimeo.com/688645026/a391208dcc [external link]
A selection of FRNSW images is available via this link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Tjql_QSWS17jvReGbBh7uaX9bSiuHzS0?usp=sharing [external link]
Updated: 25 Oct 2022 12:01pm
Related safety topics
The leading cause of home fires in NSW is leaving cooking unattended.
It“s the law to have at least one working smoke alarm installed on every level of your home.
The best way to keep you and your family safe is to prevent fires from occurring and know what to do in case of a fire.
Details about this incident may change and should not be used as emergency information and/or advice.
For all life threatening emergencies, call Triple Zero (000)
For flood information, warnings or requests for non-life threatening assistance, call the SES on 132 500 or visit the NSW State Emergency Service website here. [external link].
For information directly relating to bushfires please call the Bush Fire Information Line on 1800 679 737 or visit the NSW Rural Fire Service Website here. [external link]