Fire and Rescue NSW visits Macarthur retirement village to talk key fire safety messaging - Bargo
Published: 07 Dec 2023 02:11pm
Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) has teamed up with the Rural Fire Service (RFS) to visit a large retirement village in Bargo, south of Sydney, and deliver key summer safety messages for our most vulnerable leading into Christmas.
Over 50 firefighters from each agency gathered at the weekend at the Waratah Highlands Retirement Village as part of a joint agency initiative.
The idea for the engagement was hatched when local MP for Wollondilly, Judy Hannan, received feedback from local residents saying they were unsure whether they had a working smoke alarm or not.
Ms Hanna, then contacted Fire and Rescue NSW to conduct a visit with the retirement village, which has 150 houses on site and more than 250 residents.
Firefighters gathered at the complex last Saturday morning to receive briefings from Zone Commander, Greg Wright (FRNSW), James Morris (RFS) and Ms Hannan.
Firefighters, from both agencies, were then split into teams to provide fire safety advice at each home.
Each of the residents were spoken to about key summer fire safety points, had their home escape plan reviewed and had their smoke alarms checked. They also installed new batteries into alarms that weren't working.
Superintendent Wright says the importance of visiting such a vulnerable group leading into Christmas can't be measured.
"An initiative such as this is really important because the elderly are an extremely vulnerable group, especially at this time of year."
"All credit to Judy Hannan, MP, who sent out a newsletter to all of her residents and got feedback that they were unsure about whether their smoke alarm was working and if they had a fire escape plan."
"From there we decided to get together with the RFS to spend the time visiting residents at the retirement village and actually spend time within their homes checking that all was safe."
"We were able to visit over 150 homes within one morning and from the friendly response we received from residents it was an extremely worthwhile exercise and something that we will look to repeat again."
Media note - FRNSW footage of the Bargo visit is available here: https://vimeo.com/891687584/f061c0f542 [external link]
Updated: 07 Dec 2023 02:15pm
Related safety topics
It“s the law to have at least one working smoke alarm installed on every level of your home.
Having a home escape plan and a working smoke alarm increases your chances of getting out safely.
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]
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