By Derek Schlennstedt
Several organisations, businesses and groups from around the Dandenong Ranges have been nominated as finalists in the Fire Awareness Awards.
First developed and launched in 1983 by Forest Fire Management Victoria, Metropolitan Fire Brigade and Country Fire Authority, the awards are used to encourage and acknowledge local community programs that help reduce the effects of fire in Victoria.
Among the 200 applicants, five from the Dandenong Ranges were included in the list of finalists released on 31 October.
They included the Ash Wednesday Bushfire Education Centre in Cockatoo, Funtime Storytime by Eastern Regional Libraries and Ferntree Gully CFA, along with Upper Ferntree Gully Fire Brigade’s local preparedness videos.
Also included in the list was last year’s Living with Bushfire Community Conference – led by Yarra Ranges Council and the Municipal Fire Management Planning Committee.
The Mail News Group spoke to Sue Wooton, co-creator of the Funtime Storytime initiative – a fire awareness program run by Ferntree Gully CFA and Ferntree Gully Library.
The Funtime Storytime program is one of the finalists and Sue said that she and Graham Crichton from the Ferntree Gully CFA were “very, very proud” of what they had accomplished.
“Over the years we’ve developed it and tried to make it more a learning thing on two counts – the literacy point of view, and also promoting fire safety,” she said.
“We write our own stories – fire stories that we read and act out.”
One story includes what happens when you leave cooking unattended on the stove and what to do if a fire breaks out.”
Over 1000 people have come to enjoy the sessions played out by Graham and Sue, along with Captain Koala and The Basin CFA member April who also perform a fire safety pantomime.
The sessions are all about learning fire safety and are aimed at younger children, from ages one to six.
Sue said incorporating the sessions ensured the message was able to cross a number of limitations, including those in the community who may have difficulty reading.
“Kids can hear the story and see it,” she said.
“We have a number of non-english speaking families … by acting out the story they can see what is happening rather than relying on the words.”
It’s important to get the message across to a number of different groups across the community.”
The Fire Awareness Award winners will be announced and awards presented on Monday 4 December.
