By Gabriella Vukman
A recent house fire in Ferntree Gully serves as a reminder to ensure that working smoke alarms play a vital role in saving lives.
At midnight on June 25, the Ferntree Gully CFA was called to a kitchen house fire.
The occupant, who had been asleep while the fire developed, was alerted by their dog and promptly phoned the CFA.
Ferntree Gully CFA captain Seamus Smith personally attended the scene and said, “We were called by the occupants who were awoken by their dog and didn’t have a working smoke alarm.”
“The occupants had obviously been cooking earlier on in the evening. They had gone to bed and a fire had developed in their range hood and had crept into their roof space.
“They were alerted by their dog, awoke to the fire and called for the fire brigade and we responded with our FRV85 vehicle.”
The fire was contained to the local area of the kitchen in the flu, leaving minimal damage to the rest of the house.
Once the fire was extinguished, the CFA helped clear out the smoke and debris from the kitchen area.
“We’ve had calls to incidents where the occupants have not been alerted until much later and these incidents result in severely damaged properties,” Mr Smith said.
“Thankfully I haven’t been to a house fire incident that has involved a loss of life due to the absence of a smoke alarm but we hear about them all the time.
“We know that only working smoke alarms save lives. This is a prime example of where, if they had a smoke alarm, they would have been notified earlier as to the smoke in the house. Rather than rely on an animal, the smoke alarm does the monitoring for you.”
For more information on smoke alarms in terms of where the best places to install them are and which smoke alarms are the most optimal, visit the ‘Home Fire Safety’ page on the CFA website at; cfa.vic.gov.au/plan-prepare/fires-in-the-home/smoke-alarms/installation-and-maintenance
