Don’t let your guard down when it comes to fire safety

Fire and Rescue NSW is urging the public not to become complacent about home safety just because winter has ended.

This winter resulted in 16 residential fire deaths across NSW, the highest death toll on record and four times the 2021 winter total of four.

Minister for Emergency Services and Resilience and Minister for Flood Recovery Steph Cooke said of the 897 residential fires this winter, around 45 per cent didn’t have active smoke alarms and 20 per cent of homes had no smoke alarm at all.

“This life-saving message has been repeated time after time – please check your smoke alarms and ensure they’re working,” Ms Cooke said.

“Every one of the deaths we’ve witnessed this winter has been tragic and preventable. Please don’t delay it any longer, go out and purchase a smoke alarm to protect your life and your loved ones.”

Fire and Rescue NSW Commissioner Paul Baxter said it’s important to take simple, inexpensive steps to protect irreplaceable things; your lives, and the lives of your loved ones.

“Protecting your loved ones and the home you live in should be your number one priority, we spend a lot of money on the things inside our homes, spending $30 on a working smoke alarm to protect these things is an economical and logical life-saving decision,” Commissioner Baxter said.

“Fires can happen to you…there are always risks but as we regularly discover, when a smoke alarm sounds, it buys crucial seconds for people to safely get out of a burning home.