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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-10-29 Daily Xml
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BUSHFIRE SAFETY EVENTS

Ms SIMMONS (Morialta) (15:28): As always, the member for Stuart has very wise words for us all. Today, I want to talk about three fantastic fire safety events held in my electorate of Morialta in the last two weeks. To start Bushfire Awareness Week, on 19 October we had a sausage sizzle followed by a Bushfire Ready meeting at the Cherryville Community Centre that was conducted by Nick Patrick, the Education Officer at the CFS. We were taken through the new fire danger ratings and the recommended action, with a special emphasis on the new catastrophic 100-plus rating, where it is advised that leaving early is the only option for survival, regardless of any plan to stay and defend. These new ratings have come out as recommendations from the Victorian bushfire inquiry.

The local Cherryville CFS also took the community to visit a house adjacent to the community hall, where the owner, Tim Maitland, has installed a comprehensive sprinkler system around his roofline. Tim is also one of our CFS volunteers at Cherryville and has great knowledge in this area. Gravity fed by water tanks further up the hill, it will provide comprehensive protection from an oncoming fire. I would like to congratulate the Cherryville community on this excellent and well attended meeting.

On Thursday 22 October, I was pleased to co-host with Campbelltown council a fire safety meeting, which over 120 people attended. Guest speakers included the Minister for Emergency Services (Hon. Michael Wright); Mr Grant Lupton, Chief Officer of the MFS; Mr Euan Ferguson, Chief Officer of the CFS; Mr Stuart Macleod, Chief Officer of the SES; and Mr David Place, CEO of SAFECOM; and emergency services crews. All speakers spoke of the harrowing experience of being caught in a fire situation. The physical pain and the mental anguish associated with burns are horrendous, and speakers did not beat around the bush when describing the horrors of being caught in both a domestic or bushfire situation.

Many fires, especially house fires, are caused by human carelessness, poorly maintained electrical equipment, flame wires and perished plastic coating on wires, together with overloading of wall plugs and unattended candles. They are the main offenders. However, Mr Lupton was keen to emphasise that a well maintained fire alarm will save lives if a fire starts. Bushfires are often purposely lit, but many start naturally through lightning strikes, and hence they are a normal part of Australian life.

However, with so many people now building and living in the Adelaide Hills, it is vital that residents prepare, act, survive. Mr Ferguson encouraged all of us to update our bushfire survival plan and talked about the new catastrophic 100-plus rating, where the fire is likely to be fast moving and uncontrollable. He advises that, in these circumstances, people should not try to defend their homes but relocate.

Mr Macleod also talked about the work of the SES in these circumstances and how all three services work together in cooperation. On behalf of the Morialta constituents, I thank all the presenters, as well as members of Paradise MFS, Campbelltown SES volunteers and many hills CFS members, and also SAFECOM and Brooks fire alarms who did displays and who all attended the forum.

Lastly, on 26 October, I was delighted to attend a CFS cadet training session at Montacute Institute Hall, run by Brad Possingham and the Montacute CFS. Twenty cadets from the East Torrens region and their leaders had both a classroom and practical session on fire extinguishers and which ones to use in which fire situation. This was fantastic to watch. The fires were ferocious and the cadets worked together, cooperating well and respectfully with each other to extinguish the various oil, petrol and gas fires. I was very impressed.

Each CFS in the East Torrens region provides a practical session every month. These cadets are the CFS of the future. I congratulate them on their interest, capacity, bravery and knowledge of the fire situations at such a young age. I also congratulate our CFS volunteers who give up so much time, knowledge and effort on behalf of the South Australian community to train these youngsters to follow in their footsteps.

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