Introducing our Bushfire theme within the Natural Disasters unit, the Year 5/6 students welcomed CFA volunteers to describe and contrast the fatal 1983 Ash Wednesday fires and the 2018 St Patrick’s Day fires to improve their bushfire awareness. John Mahony (Allansford CFA) and Kelvin Boyle (Naringal CFA) outlined the weather conditions, point of origin, fire fighting procedures, wind change and fatal consequences that they experienced during the Ash Wednesday fires. They described the way the community rallied after the event to support those impacted and the improvements that were made to fire trucks, fire fighting uniforms, communications and warning systems. The current Year 5/6 students learnt that the 2017 Year 5/6 student cohort then made up fire evacuation plans with their families, produced posters and introduced bushfire awareness to their peers at TAP’s On! 2017 with the Timboon CFA. Katy Millard (Port Campbell CFA) and Clyde Bassett (Timboon CFA) recalled the climatic conditions that lead to the 2018 St Patrick’s Day fires in our region only 4 months later. They described the causes, use of the Vic Emergency App, the role of the CFA and the community response to the natural disaster which included community meetings, informal BBQs, Blazeaid volunteers, donations of food, clothing and money. Students had the opportunity to try on the fire fighting gear, examine scrapbooks and newspaper articles describing the events and trial the Mount Warrnambool fire tower map and the fire access drill kit. These students will be tasked to develop a fire and evacuation plan with their families and have already created pillowcases as part of the Red Cross Pillowcase Project in readiness for the 2023 fire season. Comments are closed.
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April 2024
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