In your letter boxes this week keep an eye out for my community survey, I have also distributed a letter to every household in Dubbo regarding the potential establishment of a Drug and Alcohol rehabilitation centre in the city. I need your opinion, by sparing only two minutes of your time, this is your chance to really have a say on the future of our community.
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Last week I had the opportunity to see the progress being made on the Dubbo Hospital redevelopment. Dubbo has a long and proud history of delivering the best health service available for the community and its surrounding areas and this redevelopment will provide a health service that can adapt and grow with the regions demand. The Premier will be coming to town next month for the official sod turn for stage four of the redevelopment, which includes the essential new cancer centre.
Fire safety the winter
With winter upon us, bringing with it reduced temperatures, keeping warm becomes one of our first priorities. With this though comes the increased risk of fire. Winter is the worst time of year for house fires and now is the time to get prepared. Across the state each winter, Fire and Rescue crews attend an average of 1,230 homes fires, with nearly half of these starting in the kitchen. Research has shown that complacency and inaction are the biggest risk factors when it comes to home fire safety.
Unfortunately on average 21 people die from house fires each year. The only way to improve on this statistic is to change people’s behaviour and attitude towards home fire safety. Being fire safe doesn’t take much time. Start with testing your smoke alarms every month and replace the batteries every 12 months.
It is also important to educate our children to ensure that in the event of a fire that they know what to do and how to get themselves to safety. Drawing a simple floor plan of your home and planning an escape route is a great way of being prepared, and ensure that keys are kept close to locked doors and windows so they can be opened easily and all exits are kept clean and hazard free.
The other big fire hazard is from heaters. It is important to keep everything at least one metre away from the heater, always supervise young children in rooms with open fires and working heaters and ensure that your flues and chimneys are regularly cleaned.
Winter is also a great time to get your property ready and prepared for the summer bush fire season. Visit www.rfs.nsw.gov.au for factsheets.
Although summer is not the only season when we need to be bush fire safe, too many times have I heard stories about camping trips gone wrong with property and people being burnt as a result of winter camping trips. Always be prepared, be careful and watch out for you mates. Visit www.fire.nsw.gov.au.
Until next week, Troy
