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THIS
MONTH
I
WOULD LIKE TO TALK ABOUT
D
A N G E R
The
danger that I want to talk about isn’t so much the danger of
Bush Fires or the danger of a House Fire, though it is related.
The danger that should be of greatest concern to the community
of Copmanhurst is complacency. Recently there was an incident in
a home in the village that could very well have had tragic
results. Fortunately it didn’t. What it has highlighted though
is that there are now no active Bush fire Brigade members
resident in Copmanhurst.
What
does this mean? It means that in the case of an incident such as
the recent one, it takes far longer for the Brigade to respond
to a call out.
In
the Village we have available a State of the Art facility with
modern well equipped Fire Tankers, a Brigade that is designated
and trained as a Village protection Brigade. Despite this we
have very little capacity to respond in a timely way because of
a severe shortage of volunteers to crew the vehicles. Unlike in
urban areas, where the Fire Brigade is staffed by the State
Government, Bush Fire Brigades rely completely on Volunteers.
YOU rely completely on volunteers. In the Copmanhurst Brigade
none of the present active volunteers live in the village and
most work away from the area on weekdays. Three live in Grafton.
What
does this mean? This means that when there is a fire in a home,
or the school, or the pub, the capacity of the Copmanhurst
Community, to save lives and property, will sit in the shed
until assistance arrives from an outlying area, or worse a
brigade from another community has to be called all the way from
Koolkhan or Waterview Heights.
It
is the lives of you and your family that are at risk and it is
entirely your responsibility to do something about it.
There
is absolutely no point in blaming a slow response from the
Bushfire Brigade after lives, and property, have been lost. The
time to fix the problem is now, not after the event.
This
is a very serious issue for the people of Copmanhurst.
The
only way this problem can be fixed is for the people of
Copmanhurst to take responsibility for it and share in the
solution.
The
New South Wales Rural Fire Service is a professional, volunteer,
organisation that is well equipped and has the most up to date
training standards in the world. There is a role for almost
anyone in the Brigade and no one is asked to do more than they
are able to. Anyone 16 years or older is eligible.
To
find out more about your Brigade go to our website or
come to one of our monthly meetings at 7.30pm on the fourth
Tuesday of the month or our training days at 9.30 on the second
Saturday. Just come and have a look if you like.
Remember,
it’s your family, your home, your community, your
brigade…………and your responsibility.
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