By Callum Ludwig
An upcoming community open day in Millgrove is set to provide an opportunity for both entertainment and emergency preparation.
Millgrove Residents Action Group (MRAG) and the Wesburn/Millgrove CFA are holding the combined Open Day during the Millgrove Market on Sunday 29 October from 8am till 3pm.
Wesburn/Millgrove CFA Captain Sascha Grant said they are hoping to raise awareness around home fire safety and how to prepare your property for the upcoming fire season.
“From our perspective at the moment, this is the time that everybody needs to prepare their properties and be ready for the fire season. We’ve had some fairly benign weather over the last few years, but I think this heading into this fire season is gonna be a lot hotter and a lot drier, so it’s even more important,” he said.
“We’re also currently recruiting, looking for new firefighters and brigade members and of course look forward to giving the young kids a bit of time to climb over the fire trucks and check out all the equipment.”
MRAG is looking forward to presenting its Millgrove Community Resilience Plan which members have worked tirelessly on over the past two years and is asking the community for feedback. The plan includes a focus on local renewable power and for Millgrove to establish a community hub in an emergency with backup power.
Mr Grant said having MRAG working on that project has been fantastic.
“It’s going to make a huge difference to this community, we’ve been involved with them right through the process,” he said.
“They’re going to have a great big final map rolled out on the ground and they’re going to have people there to talk through the potential risks in the area where floods and fire and other disasters may affect,”
“I think the community will really enjoy seeing what’s in place and what they can do to prepare themselves in line with that resilience plan that’s being put together.”
MRAG representatives will be joined by disaster resilience specialists from ResilientCo to hear resident’s ideas on the day and if anyone in the local Millgrove community is interested in joining the MRAG team on this project, make yourself known on the day or send an email to info@mrag.net.au.
Mr Grant said open days are always a lot of fun for people to come and have a look at but this year, they are definitely trying to engage people in the area who want to become firefighters.
“I encourage anyone interested to come and have a chat with us because the role is probably different to what a lot of people perceive it to be, firefighting is probably the more minor part of the role because it’s public education and awareness that really comes to the front,” he said.
“If you’ve thought about it, come find out what the realities are, it’s an awesome, instant community and a great group of friends that have a common goal in looking out for the community.”
CFA activities will include a smoke room, ‘fire’ extinguishing for kids with a real fire hose, and refuge tours, while the team from The Dreaming Space will put on entertainment shows such as a fire show, giant bubble show, the ‘Funky Monkey Family’ show, a Magic show and more.
MRAG will also be running free family games including; sumo suit wrestling, cornhole game, noughts and crosses, hopscotch and giant quoits.
