Warrnambool Fire Brigade helped light up a local primary school's annual Science Night on 20 August, demonstating their gas flare-off skills to hundreds of families.
The brigade's current station sits next to the school, locally known as Jamo Primary, on Raglan Parade. The Brigade and the school regularly use this proximity to advantage, with the brigade delivering Fire Safe Kids, specialist presentations on fire as a natural disaster and sessions on natural change in the landscape. The school has a focus on safety and participation in and with the community, and uses its relationship with the brigade to enhance this.
The school's very popular Science Night is used to demonstrate to parents and families the subjects and skills that the children of all grades are learning in science. The school's science committee always plans to finish the night with a special show, and they approached the brigade for help. Firefighter Brent Freeman and Senior Station Officer David Ferguson liaised with the school's Rebecca Rantall to develop a plan to safely display the flare-off equipment. Those who have seen this equipment in action know that it can be quite spectacular, and it was a fitting finale to the night.
This opportunity also created value for the brigade because several volunteers and staff who have flare-off skills carried out the display as skills maintenance and consolidation.
The team from the brigade worked seamlessly to present a very professional display. Leading Firefighter Troy Cleverley acted as MC, explaining to the gathered crowd why we would need to take this action at an incident and what steps are taken during the process. He also threw in a few of the physical properties of gas to provide some further science content.
Gas safety around the home and in other places where we use gas was also emphasised. As shown by the photos, everyone enjoyed looking at the 'big Bunsen burner', although there was some expectation of a big bang at the end. Luckily for all involved there wasn't!
Author: David Ferguson