Dubbo firefighters have found and replaced outdated smoke alarms in an elderly person’s house on Monday, the devices a key safety component in the event of a blaze.
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They headed out on the fire prevention task as a result of a major community outreach at the weekend.
About 1000 people attended the Dubbo Fire Station in Wheelers Lane between 10am and 2pm on Saturday for the Fire & Rescue NSW Open Day.
Station Commander Michael Kearns said it had been an excellent opportunity to raise awareness in the community.
During the open day there was a kitchen fire simulator display, “always a great tool” for educating the public.
There were also displays of the hazardous materials van and boat, and of a motor vehicle rescue.
“And the kids got to play on the hose,” Commander Kearns said.
The station also had plenty of fire safety information available, including home fire safety checks and smoke alarms.
Firefighters can assist elderly residents who live by themselves and need the batteries of their smoke alarms replaced, or the smoke alarm replaced if it is not hard-wired, the station commander says.
“We’ve had some take-up of that in the past few days,” he said.
“We found some outdated smoke alarms and replaced them this morning.”
The home fire safety checks also provide advice about heaters, and cleaning lint from clothes dryers, as well as extinguishers and fire blankets.
“Sometimes we can find a lead damaged, prevention [so we don’t] have to go out there again,” Commander Kearns said.
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He said the safety advice was really important to keeping people safe.
“So we go to less fire calls and do more fire prevention work,” he said.
Delroy Fire Station also opened its doors on Saturday and played host to about 120 visitors.
“Everything went really well, there was lots of interest in the younger ones, getting dressed up in our uniforms,” Captain Bernie Reid said.