has been issued for today...and I have already heard the fire engine leave from the station less than a kilometre from here. I hope that was a false alarm or, at very worst, minor and easily dealt with. We already have high temperatures, high winds, and a fuel load that doesn't bear thinking about.
It is why, earlier this week, I was relieved to hear an elderly friend say, "P....came over and cleared the gutters again. He checked the pump and all the sprinklers too. " P... is her son-in-law and lives not too far away but both houses are on a narrow road in the hills behind us. The bushland around them may be beautiful but it certainly isn't safe.
Yesterday I was talking to one of the local teachers. He also volunteers with the State Emergency Service. His two children are also involved, just as his late wife was involved. They will all be on high alert today. It is summer school holidays here so the teacher will not be at work.
His children will be at work but their employers are ready for them - and other employees - to leave everything and go. Not all employers are like that of course but if you work in the timber industry or care for animals then it is much more likely that your employer will be willing to let you go. I hope they can stay at work.
My teacher friend was not on call yesterday. He has been from midnight today.
I am also in a sense "on call" today. Everyone in our small communications group will be. We all need to monitor any person with the sort of disability that does not allow them to leave their home without assistance in a fire emergency. For me it means no more than being available. Nobody else has checked in to say that someone will be at home alone. That's the good thing about summer holidays. Some people will be away. Others will have family on leave and at home.
And I hope the idiot with the box of matches who is contemplating setting a fire somewhere is thinking twice. Yes, there will be someone out there who is, at very least, contemplating such a thing. There will be someone who thinks "fire is fun". It isn't. People lose everything in fires, including their lives. Deliberately setting a fire which causes someone else to lose their life is tantamount to murder.
So please, no phone calls like that today please. Stay safe everyone.
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3 comments:
I wonder if people who set fires feel the need of more excitement in their lives, and have no experience of how fast fire can move and the damage it can do. I remember his very fast reaction whenever the sheet of newspaper my father was using to make the open fire draw caught light - he scrumpled it up with his bare hands and threw it into the fireplace.
Being able to set a fire with little chance of being caught and no responsibility for the outcome, and being able to see the effect from afar must be tempting.
If the arsonist were to be confronted by the relatives and friends of those killed and the firefighters who give time and risk injury if not death, and were held responsible for the outcome (supporting the families of the dead and injured, cleaning up and making good), perhaps s/he would think twice.
I think people should be responsible for their deliberate considered actions.
LMcC
There is a fifteen year old girl who has been charged with lighting a fire on the outskirts of Melbourne yesterday, but allowed to go home until her court appearance. Spending that time in detention would be a hint of what is to come if she doesn't grow up soon.
No deaths, but I would like to think that when she starts work she has to pay compensation for the damage caused by that fire.
Friends who volunteer in emergency services are allowed to leave their regular jobs if they are called upon to help in an emergency - for an employer to discriminate against them because of it is illegal. Employers are legally obliged to let emergency services volunteers stop work to help others.
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