A common frustration heard from NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) volunteers recently is that the public has become complacent about fire because of ongoing La Nina events this year.
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Kim McDonald from Bobin says the same thing.
Following the devastating 2019 bushfires and after extensive discussions with local community hall groups, the RFS, SES and other emergency services Kim and other Bobin community members came up with a project that would assist both the community and emergency services in future fire or emergency events.
The idea was a simple one with two components: a double sided reflective sign to alert emergency services to whether people are on the property or evacuated, and a tube containing information about where water supplies are and what hazards, for example gas bottles, are on the property, again to assist fire crews and the SES. People could register their properties and receive these items for free.
"Let's be proactive and tell emergency services if we're there or not and tell them where there's water, and what fitting you've got on your tank they can plug in," Kim explained.
As well as Bobin, Kim reached out to communities on the Bulga Plateau, Elands, Kippax, Marlee, Wherrol Flat, Caparra, Killabakh, Lansdowne, Upper Lansdowne and Johns River. From the initial contacts and enthusiasm, it was estimated by those communities that collectively some 600 signs and tubes would be taken up.
Based on those figures Kim submitted a funding proposal to Resilience NSW and received a grant for the project.
However, with the passage of time and a very wet year, people seem to have forgotten the urgency of the 2019 bushfires, how they could be better prepared should such a disaster happen again, and how they could assist emergency services in saving lives and houses. When it came time for people to actually register to receive the signs and tubes, less than 200 people in all of those communities combined signed up.
"For example, I catered for 70 to 90 for Marlee - 11 people from Marlee had signed up," Kim said.
"It's a bit disappointing. John's River said 120. Well, one person signed up.
"I said I'd coordinate this project, but each town village had their own project coordinator.
"It's amazing how complacent people get.
"I thought that along with a lot of other people that we did a really good community led cooperative thing. It was a bit disappointing that not not all the area took it up. But what do you do? You can only try," Kim said.
People can still sign up to receive the signs and tubes, and the fixings needed to attach them to gates and posts. Simply go to fireready.org.au and register.
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