Raising the alarm for fire safety

By Meg Kennedy

While most of us will be changing our alarm clocks as day light savings begins, two volunteer groups in Bacchus Marsh will be making sure a different kind of alarm is working correctly.

Bacchus Marsh Urban Fire Brigade and Bacchus Marsh Rotary Club are joining forces to replace smoke alarm batteries for senior Bacchus Marsh residents 75-years and over on Sunday, 6 October.

The program, which has been running the last two years, has seen nearly two hundred residences visited, with batteries changed, alarms tested, and fire safety information provided.

It is anticipated more than 70 percent of senior residents in Bacchus Marsh will be visited.

Project co-organiser and Bacchus Marsh Urban Fire Brigade Community Safety Manager Scott Pepin said the initiative for the program began several years ago, as members noticed a need in the community for a public safety service that targeted the elderly.

“Many senior residents have an inability to perform changing smoke alarms, such as climbing up ladders,” he said.

“The CFA have been jumping onboard with more intensive fire safety services.”

As well as the smoke alarm initiative, Bacchus Marsh Brigade members will soon visit local kindergartens, pre-schools and primary schools around Bacchus Marsh as part of the ‘Fire Safe Kids’ program.

This program allows children to be introduced to important fire safety learnings, such as calling Triple-000; ‘Stop, Drop & Roll’ and ‘Get Down Low-Go, Go, Go’.

Mr Pepin said the program allows children to “foster a relationship with the local Brigade, and important “take-home” messages which are shared with their families.”

Bacchus Marsh Fire Brigade and Rotary Club will be changing smoke alarms on Sunday, 6 October between 10am and 3.30pm.

The project is also supported by Bacchus Marsh Community Bank, which project co-organiser Peter Kay said “continues to provide strong support upon which this project depends, since the start three years ago.”

If you are interested in getting your smoke alarm battery changed, contact Bacchus Marsh Community Bank Branch on 5367 4660 with your address, contact details, preferred time slot and ceiling height (above or below 10ft).

Registrations close on Tuesday, 1 October.

For more information, contact Scott Pepin on 0437 855 569 or Peter Kay 0438 598 135.