BUSHFIRE season officially starts on October 1, and the Mulwaree Support branch of the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) have been training in readiness for it.
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Group Captain Tim Street spoke to Town and Country about tips for keeping your home safe, and also about joining the Rural Fire Service.
Mulwaree Support Brigade held an Open Day at their headquarters in North Goulburn on September 13, with a good crowd turning up to find out more about the RFS as a volunteer organisation.
“We ended up with about 30 or 40 people who attended, considering our relatively ‘hard to find’ location in Goulburn,” Mr Street said.
Crew enjoys training day
“It was multi-faceted approach with the main message being about bushfire safety in your home, both in the bush and also in urban areas. In recent years there’s been some pretty horrific fires in both NSW and Victoria, and sadly there still seems to be an everincreasing loss of life.
So if you are threatened by a bushfire, make the decision to go, and make that decision very early in the piece, so that you are not driving in a dangerous situation while you’re trying to escape the fire.
Ultimately your home is replaceable, but human life is not.”
Another aspect of importance for this fire season is keeping the areas around your house clean and free from fire risks.
“We were giving tips about cleaning around your home and keeping them free from flammable materials, such as for instance not stacking your firewood on a wooden verandah,” Mr Street said.
“It makes it a lot harder for you at the end of the day, because embers can lodge in any crack or crevice they possibly can, and if it’s full of leaves or bark, etc it’s just a recipe for disaster.”
The brigade also held a ‘FireSkills’ training day on September 21 at the property of Towrang fire captain Alan Burman.
The day was organised by Jonathon Tabner, with the support of Mr Street, Mr Burman and Robbie Hughes.
The aim of the day was to try and get some of the newer members of the Mulwaree Support Brigade trained up and ready to go.
Forty-five members turned up, which Mr Street was quite impressed with.
“We introduced most of our volunteers together from a number of the brigades, because this summer they may have to work together,” Mr Street said.
“We gave them some hands-on practical training to heighten their skills.”
The crew went through a mock motor vehicle accident scenario, structure fire fighting demonstrations, plus mapping and navigation skills.
“The boys and girls also learnt about hand tool work, where they have to cut a fire trail using hand tools,” Tim said.
“They also learnt about pumps and pumping of water and about rural fire driving in reverse through a navigation course.”