Are your gutters clear? Do you have a hose that can wrap around your house? Have you written your bush fire survival plan?
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These are all questions that the Rural Fire Service want local residents to be thinking about this ‘Get Ready’ weekend.
On Saturday, Thornton Rural Fire Brigade will throw open the station doors, from 11am to 2pm, as part of the state-wide initiative to prepare residents for bush fire season.
“We’ve already seen the bad fires at Salt Ash. It’s a pretty grim forecast for the next few months – with both rain and temperature. We are seeing unprecedentedly amounts of fire activity this season,” deputy captain Josh Harris said.
“It gives the public the opportunity to come down to their local station, meet the volunteer members and have a look at the trucks.
“But the most importantly part is we have plenty of information for people, and us, to help write their bush fire survival plan.”
Other stations open over the weekend include Greta, Bolwarra Largs, Paterson, Lochinvar and North Rothbury. Maitland Vale will hold an open day at Aberglasslyn Woolworths.
Over 600 NSW Rural Fire Brigades will host events across the state on Saturday and Sunday, featuring firefighting equipment displays, information stands and workshops held at community venues such as shopping centres, local parks and fire stations.
“We are really pushing that a bush fire survival plan isn’t just for people that live surrounded by bush. A statistic that a lot of people don’t release that over 90 per cent of homes lost in fires are lost due to burning embers.
“Embers can travel up to two to three kilometres in front of a fire front. So you see a lot of people living in the urban interface who have a fale sense of security because they live in a
“No matter where they are, people need to do the simple things including clean out their gutters and clean up any combustibles away from the house.”
The Thornton station, located on Kooralbyn Street, will be open from 11am to 2pm.
For more details, visit your local fire brigade’s Facebook page.