By Callum Ludwig
Seville residents who feel as those they or someone close to them are at high risk in the event of a fire are urged to attend a community meeting at the Seville Community House on Thursday 2 November at 1pm.
With the fire season predicted to start early, the Seville CFA is keen to prepare at-risk residents with further community meetings and opportunities for the wider community to come.
Community Safety Coordinator at Seville CFA Claire Knowles said the statistics tell us that there are people in the community who are at higher risk of fires, both house fire and bushfire.
“This event is for either those people themselves, their carers or their neighbours, there are certain things we can do to assist them to be both safe in their home and prepare for the summer ahead,” she said.
“We know from the latest census data that in Seville, a large number of people had answered a question on if they had been a carer in the two weeks prior to the census date, and a significant number of people said yes, they had been an unpaid care,”
“We know we have community members who are caring for others, so we want to reach out to those people and share how we can help them make a plan or start that conversation with someone.”
308 Seville residents aged over 15, accounting for 15.2 per cent of the town’s population, had provided unpaid assistance to a person with a disability, health condition or due to old age in the two weeks prior to the 2021 Census.
Ms Knowles said people at higher risk have unique needs, so it’s important to the brigade that they can reach out and be available to them.
“ It’s important to remember that not everybody is on social media, certainly older members of our community are not on social media, so we need to think about how these community members get their information,” she said.
“Then we have to consider if they have made a plan, especially as they may have unique challenges, perhaps in terms of mobility, so can they actually evacuate and if they can’t, who’s going to assist them to evacuate.”
Bookings are requested for catering purposes and can be made by calling 5964 3987.
Ms Knowles said it’s time to start thinking early, to start talking to people such as your family or your neighbours or your carers and formulate a plan.
“They can start to think about what they’re going to do with each level of the fire danger rating, the question to ask is ‘When are you going to be triggered to activate your plan?’ and then think about when they are going to leave, where they are going to go and what they need to take with them like their medication or pets,” she said.
“We can certainly provide templates for plans for these situations and there’s actually online resources, e-learning modules on the CFA website, which are really good prompts for that conversation to take place and help make that plan.”
The Seville CFA’s community safety efforts haven’t stopped there, also bolstered by the recent installation of a defibrillator (AED) at the brigade station.
Ms Knowles said it is a fantastic thing for the local community.
“It’s available 24/7, it’s not locked away in a building. The access is coded, so through Triple Zero any community member can get the code to access it or if they’re using the GoodSAM app,” she said.
“Early intervention in an emergency is always best, we are still a semi-rural area and know that Ambulance Victoria can be under a lot of pressure at times so we thank the Wandin-Seville Community Bendigo Bank for providing it as it’s a really important thing for Seville.”
