Last year, there were 92 house fires in Campbelltown and 115 in Liverpool.
Across NSW there 3,761 household fires in 2016.
That’s a lot of fires and a lot of tragic deaths and injuries, many of them young children.
Fire & Rescue NSW acting commissioner Jim Hamilton says children are often unaware that a tiny flame can grow into a dangerous fire.
“Their young age and inexperience with the dangers of fire puts them at high risk,’’ Mr Hamilton said.
“It is important that we teach children an escape plan and practise it frequently.’’
And that’s exactly the aim of the Brigade Kids Champion Competition which was launched earlier this month – reduce the number of house fire related deaths.
The competition calls out to every family in NSW who have children from Kindergarten to Year 2 to participate in an important state wide campaign that teaches young kids on what they will need to do in the case of a fire.
Fire & Rescue NSW is calling on all budding young artists across the state to use their creativity and imagination to help promote fire safety, and have the chance to win great prizes in the process.
“The Brigade Kids Champion Competition is intended to raise awareness of the importance of fire safety amongst children from a young age,” Mr Hamilton said.
“This competition complements our fire education program which aims to reduce the severity of the tragedy and trauma caused by fires that can have lasting effects on children.”
Supported by the NSW Department of Education, the Brigade Kids Champion Competition encourages children from Kindergarten to Year 2 in NSW to create a poster that promotes one of three essential fire safety messages:
Practice your escape plan and have a safe meeting place;
Get down low, and go, go, go;
Call Triple Zero (000) in the case of a fire.
The Brigade Kids Champions Competition will run until April 23, with entries to be submitted online here.
Entries will be judged by a panel of representatives from the NSW department of education, Association of Independent Schools of NSW, NSW Teachers Federation, Catholic Education Commission NSW, the Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Lego, Scholastic, Hi-5 and the FRNSW commissioner.
Winners from each category have the opportunity to win an Xbox Minecraft bundle from Microsoft, Lego City packs, and fire safety certificates amongst others.
In addition, the schools of the winning children will also receive gift packs from Scholastic.
For more details on the Brigade Kids Champion Competition, please visit the website here, email competitions@fire.nsw.gov.au or phone 8020 1401.
