From July 13-18 is Winter Fire Safety Week, and to help promote this important cause NSW Fire & Rescue, in partnership with RSL and Service Clubs are running an initiative Keep Looking While Cooking to promote and educate the community on Fire Safety and what to do in an emergency, specifically in a kitchen fire in the home.
The purpose of Fire & Rescue NSW’s (FRNSW) winter home fire safety campaign is to address the seasonal spike in home fires over winter, with an aim of reducing incidents and injuries, by increasing concern and awareness in targeted audiences. An analysis of FRNSW incident data indicates the number of accidental home fires trends higher in the months of May to August. Kitchen (cooking) fires have consistently comprised approximately half of all accidental residential structure fires with the majority of the accidental fires being “unattended”.
Of the 1,072 residential fires over winter 2014, 438 (41%) of those were in the kitchen. Of the recorded 438 kitchen fires over winter 2014, 204 of those (47%) were due to “unattended” ignition factor. These figures suggest the trend remains consistent and that unattended kitchen fires remain an area of focus. Interrogation of incident data also shows that while kitchen fires are the predominant fire call all year round, the additional heating appliance fires that occur through the winter months increases the incident call rate at this time.
On Tuesday 7th July, 2015, NSW Fire & Rescue will be holding a simulation of a kitchen fire in the Penrith RSL Club car park. This is intended to demonstrate what should be done in this situation and how to be safe. This will take place at 10.00am and is free to attend.
On Tuesday 14th July, 2015, a local fireman will attend Penrith RSL Club to give a talk on fire safety and to raise awareness on the dangers in the home that are often overlooked. This will take place between 12pm – 12.30pm and is free to attend.
In Summary
Tuesday 7th July – SIMULATION IN CAR PARK
10am. Free to attend.
Tuesday 14th July – FIREMAN SAFETY TALK
12pm – 12.30pm. Free to attend.
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