Local emergency services hosted an informative community event in Cann River at the weekend, drawing more than 150 attendees to learn about emergency preparedness and available support services.
The event, named Cann Be Ready Day, featured members and demonstrations from CFA, DELWP, SES, Parks Vic, Ambulance Victoria, bush nurses and other community groups such as Landcare, Cann River Community Centre, Gippsland Complete Heath, Anglicare, Catholic Care and East Gippsland Shire.
The event was held at the Cann River Recreation Reserve along Tamboon Road in an outdoor, COVID Safe format.
The Cann Valley Fire Brigade organised a demonstration of the brigade’s fire equipment by extinguishing oil filled containers, a public display of Tamboon slip-on units, as well as a joint road rescue demonstration with SES.
Several smoke detectors and fire blankets were distributed to attendees and kids enjoyed toy firefighter helmets.
Cann Valley Fire Brigade Secretary Frank Herbert said the event was a great success and an excellent turn out.
“The aim of the event was for the community to meet our local emergency services members in one spot and for us to promote how important it is to have a bushfire plan ready,” Frank said.
“I can’t express strongly enough how important it is that every family has a plan ahead of fire season – especially in remote communities.
“All the agencies that attended spoke to locals about the fire risks involved in where they live and how they can be best prepared in the case of an emergency.
“I think the local community got a lot out of it.”
To stick with the theme of fire preparedness, agencies organised a raffle for locals to participate in; prizes included fire blankets, torches, blowers, hedge trimmers and other gardening equipment.
“The team was also giving away caps to all attendees with ‘Cann Be Ready’ printed across them.”
Frank said the CFA and SES vehicle rescue demonstration was one of the highlights of the day.
“SES provided a vehicle and the crews demonstrated how to remove the roof and extract a dummy from the vehicle,” he said.
“It involved using a circular saw to open the bonnet, disconnect the battery, hosing down and successfully rescuing the dummy from the car.
“A lot of people hadn’t seen this operation done before in person.”
The event also allowed the local services to increase their presence within the community after a tough 18 months navigating changing restrictions.
“It was great for the local public to see emergency service groups, council, Landcare and healthcare groups working together towards one goal; protecting the community,” he said.
“It’s important the community are familiar with our brigade and other emergency services as we’re always looking for new recruits.
“All agencies got a lot out of the event as well and we’ll look for opportunities to get involved in another similar community event in future.”
Tips for preparing your property:
- Prune tree branches so they are not overhanging the roof or touching walls.
- Replace mulch near the house with less flammable alternatives like pebbles.
- Keep grass shorter than 10cm. Regularly remove leaves and twigs from around the house.
- Don’t have large shrubs in front of windows or glass doors.
- Before leaving early, make sure you remove all flammable items from around your home – including the doormat!
- Check that your home and contents insurance is current and includes a level of cover in line with current building standards and regulations.
Keeping burn-offs safe and legal:
- Check fire restrictions with your local council.
- Register your burn at firepermits.vic.gov.au or by calling 1800 668 511.
- Check and monitor weather conditions – particularly wind – on the day of your burn and the few days after it as fires can flare up several days after a burn-off in windy conditions.
- To avoid unnecessary calls to emergency services, notify your neighbours beforehand.
- Leave a three-metre fire break, free from flammable materials around the burn.
- Have sufficient equipment and water to stop the fire spreading and to extinguish it.
- Never leave a burn-off unattended – stay for its entire duration.
- If your burn-off gets out of control, call ‘000’ immediately.
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CFA News & Media |