Coronavirus Melbourne: Emerald CFA asks people to be careful
While most of Melbourne is in lockdown, emergency service members are still out there responding to 000 call outs. But here’s a handy list of ways you can avoid putting those dedicated firefighters and other emergency personnel at risk during the coronavirus outbreak.
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A Melbourne CFA brigade is urging people to avoid doing “dumb stuff” as they spend more time at home because of COVID-19.
Emergency workers need to do everything they can to stay healthy so they can respond to call-outs as normal, according to Emerald CFA captain Paul Yandle.
But he says there are also crucial ways the community can do their bit to help emergency workers avoid being unnecessarily exposed to the virus.
“We need to protect our people from the virus,” he said.
“If the brigade gets sick, there will be trucks with no one to use them.
“Please help us and all emergency workers to continue our work by doing your bit.”
TAKE MORE CARE
He’s advising people to concentrate on not doing anything that might lead to an emergency.
With more people home — particularly children — extra care needs to be taken to avoid creating fire hazards.
“Just remember the basics,” he said.
“Don’t let the current overload of information and stress distract you from basic fire safety principles like safety around open fires or heaters, being careful in the kitchen, overloading power points or charging phones on pillows etc.
“Starting a self isolation project in the shed? Think about where those angle grinder sparks are landing.”
Drivers are similarly being urged to take more care on the roads, minimising risk of accidents.
“Having multiple first responders working shoulder to shoulder rescuing someone from a car crash doesn’t work well for us in terms of social distancing,” he said.
TELL 000 IF YOU’RE SICK
Mr Yandle says anyone phoning 000 should tell the operator if anyone at the emergency is at risk of having COVID-19.
Firefighters will still rush to help sick people, but will take extra precautions.
“We’re just asking people to be upfront and honest,” he said.
“It just means we can protect ourselves.”
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DON’T BE ALARMED
Mr Yandle advised people to stay calm if firefighters turn up wearing face masks, medical gloves, goggles or protective white suits.
He said the brigade was equipped to take extra precautions in close contact situations.
Mr Yandle said CFA members had been asked to take extra care to protect their health in their day-to-day lives, and any members not feeling well would not be on duty.
He said while training had been minimised and modified for social distancing, full crews of firefighters would still respond to emergencies.