Easy ways to avoid fire disasters

FOUR house fires in the past month could have been avoided, according to the CFA.
This week CFA District 13 Manager of Community Safety Tammy Garrett and Operations Officer Ian Cross met with the Mail to launch the Safe Mistakes Campaign.
“We need to let the public know that some mistakes could be avoided,” Ms Garrett said.
“These simple mistakes could lead to devastating house fires.”
Mr Cross said that in the past month there were four house fires, in Kalorama, Ferny Creek, Menzies Creek and Emerald, that could have been avoided.
“So many times we find ourselves at a fire that was started by overloaded powerboards, dated smoke alarms or decomposing compost or ashes from fireplaces,” he said.
“One of the fires last month started because they didn’t have a grill on the fire place, so a log rolled out and it went from there.”
Ms Garrett said it was important that members of the public understood the need to be aware of their choices – especially around the home.
She said not leaving electric blankets on, not allowing a candle to burn when the house is empty and not using poor quality cheap batteries in smoke detectors were just some of the small ways that residents could protect themselves from devastating mistakes.