There was a good roll-up of families to the Tenterfield Fire Station’s open day on Saturday for its annual ‘come and see what we do’ day for budding firefighters.
Fire Captain John Gray said around 30 people took advantage of the fine weather to check out the firetrucks, play firefighter and witness a demonstration of the power of the jaws-of-life.
While the experience may have whetted the appetite of some adventurous youngsters, Tenterfield Fire & Rescue is looking to recruit more firefighters to its crew in the short term.There are currently five positions to be filled, with the organisation keen to welcome new members. For more information call the fire station on (02) 6736 3835 and the call will go through to Cpt Gray.
Fortunately there haven’t been too many callouts so far this season to Tenterfield locations although the dangerous winter season looms. The crew has been called out recently to a few Queensland fires (Glen Lyon and Lyra) as a result of closer cross-border liaison.
To avoid setting your own house on fire Cpt Gray recommends that anyone with an open fire gets their flue checked before lighting up, and to have electric blankets checked if it’s been a while since they were looked at.
Ensure that smoke alarms are working properly and, most importantly, adopt the ‘cooking, keep looking’ mentality.
“Don’t put a winter soup on the stove to cook and then walk away and forget it,” Cpt Gray said.
“Unattended cooking is the cause of a lot of house fires. We had a case of someone heating up a frypan of oil to cook sausages and realise they were out of sausages and go to the shop. They returned to find two fire trucks in their front yard.
“It happens.”
