TAMBORINE Mountain preempted storm season with a community led disaster preparedness day at Vonda Youngman Centre.
Facilitated by Arran Hassell and attended by police, firefighters, SES, members of the mountain’s Chainsaw Warriors, as well as residents, the day focussed on preparing for bushfire.
“Fires are about and they are coming our way,” Mr Hassell stated in his introduction.
There are many things that residents can do to prepare for any disaster, but one of the most important things is to get to know the neighbours.
An early exercise involved participants introducing themselves to someone in the room they didn’t know, and asking why they had attended.
Many ideas were shared about preparing households for a bushfire, and the importance of having a plan and ensuring everyone in the household knows the plan.
Now is the time to:
Put important paperwork in an easily accessible place – including insurance documents;
Check your home has sufficient water supply;
Make sure your generator works and you have fuel – but do not store fuel near the house.
Vanesssa Bull mentioned the importance of house numbers being easily seen, especially at night, to enable emergency services to find your home.
Are you leaving or staying?
“In any fire, the firefighters priorities are life, then property and then grass fires,” stated Firefighter Danny Edser.
“If there are a lot of fires in the region there will be a scarcity of resources – do not expect a firefighter to knock at your door,” he said.
Mr Edser and other emergency services personnel encouraged people to leave early.
“Put something on your front door to say you have left and make sure gates are unlocked so emergency services can get in.”
One of Mr Hassell’s concerns was the number of people who work off the mountain who did not attend the workshop and whether they have considered what they would do in the event of a bushfire.
The question of whether to return to the mountain to pick up children from school, rescue pets or retrieve items from home was discussed, but firefighters had a strong message.
“Don’t risk your life trying to drive through a fire to pick up your kids,” said Mr Edser.
