ACT Fire and Rescue will reinforce their public messaging campaigns during winter after an internal study found the number of building fires in the ACT has remained steady during the colder months of 2014.
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Superintendent Pat Jones said firefighters have responded to 66 building fires between May and July this year, which is exactly the same number of incidents reported during the same three-month period in 2013.
While no progress has been made on limiting building fires this winter, the number of grass and bush fires in the ACT fell from 44 to 33 during the colder months.
The number of reported building fires during the warmer months of 2014 (January-March) fell from 54 to 63 while the number of grass and bush fires fell from 96 to 77.
Superintendent Jones said the figures indicated a consistent trend during winter months and called for additional efforts to ensure Canberrans do not become complacent outside of bushfire season.
“The biggest take out from the figures is consistent amount of structural fires in the ACT and we’re working really had with the community to address that with our messaging,” he said.
"People need to be more aware of fire risks during the colder months as they’re spending more time at home and there’s an additional chance of human error.”
Superintendent Jones said the figures suggest Canberrans are becoming more aware of fire dangers during the summer months, rather than winter being a particularly dangerous period for house fires.
“We’d like people to be more aware of fire hazards during the winter months,” he said.
Superintendent Jones said firefighters will continue to focus on the threat of fires starting from electrical equipment within homes across the ACT.
“We do get around 20 per cent of our [house] fires from electrical equipment but that doesn’t necessarily change with the seasons,” he said.
The impact that house fires have upon families in the ACT is not lost on fire fighters and Superintendent Jones said the force would continue to investigate new ways to reduce the number of incidents during winter.