A joint campaign by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) and Country Fire Authority (CFA) has helped Brimbank home owners become more fire-savvy.
MFB data shows preventable house fires during winter dropped 11 per cent compared to the same season last year, coinciding with the July launch of the Safe Mistake Zone campaign, according to a brigade spokesman.
Firefighters attended 356 preventable
house fires across metropolitan Melbourne this winter. In Brimbank, fire crews were called out to 23 preventable house fires in winter, including an early-morning blaze at a Taylors Lakes house that was caused by an electrical fault in an old radio.
The house’s elderly occupants and their pets escaped unharmed, but the single-storey brick veneer was extensively damaged.
The campaign is aimed at raising awareness of the thousands of
house fires that are caused by small mistakes each year.
MFB acting chief officer Paul Stacchino said unattended cooking, electrical failures and discarded cigarettes were common fire starters. “It’s sad to see someone lose all their worldly possessions in a fire that could easily have been avoided,” he said.
In 2013, CFA and MFB crews attended 3559 preventable residential fires across the state, resulting in an estimated
$90 million of property loss.
Charlene Macaulay
