The Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) and the Country Fire Authority (CFA) have launched a joint fire safety campaign to raise awareness that “no sound from a smoke alarm can be deadly in a fire”.
Opening the campaign, Silence is Deadly, Acting Chief Officer at MFB, David Bruce called on all Victorians to check that their smoke alarms were installed, working, and in the right location.
“There wasn’t a working smoke alarm present in more than one in 10 of the residential fires MFB attended last year,” Mr Bruce said.
“It’s concerning to see that some Victorians are still not getting the message – a smoke alarm will give you vital early warning and can save your life,” he said.
“It takes minutes for a fire to take hold in a home, which can cause significant damage to property and put people’s lives at risk.”
Mr Bruce said MFB wanted Victorians to go beyond ensuring there was a working smoke alarm in their home and install them in the right locations as well as interconnect multiple alarms.
Chief Officer at CFA, Steve Warrington said that while the majority of households had a least one smoke alarm, a recent survey of Victorians showed only 16 per cent had smoke alarms in their bedrooms and only 11 per cent had interconnected smoke alarms.
Mr Warrington said the Silence is Deadly campaign would run for five weeks online and across radio stations.
