Fire safety campaign to assist culturally and linguistically diverse communities
Published: 29th March 2006
The NSW Fire Brigades (NSWFB) has partnered with the car distributor Subaru Australia in a campaign to increase fire safety among culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities.
Subaru has provided a Forester All-Wheel Drive vehicle for the NSWFB CALD Coordinator to travel across metropolitan and regional NSW to promote fire safety among CALD communities.
"The campaign is aimed at reducing the number of incidents and severity of fires in the homes of people from culturally diverse backgrounds," said the Commissioner of the NSWFB, Greg Mullins.
"The NSWFB has identified culturally diverse groups which would benefit from the campaign. These include community members with limited English, newly arrived migrants, and seniors from non-English speaking backgrounds who may not know to call Triple Zero (000) in the event of an emergency.
"It is important that NSWFB officers travel to the communities, and provide fire safety advice and address issues and questions face to face with community leaders and members.
"One of the key messages we will be promoting is the importance of installing smoke alarms, which will become compulsory in all homes from 1 May 2006."
The Subaru vehicle will be loaned to the NSWFB for a period of 12 months as part of the company's community partnership initiatives.
"We are delighted to assist the NSWFB in promoting community safety among people for whom English is not their first language," said Mr David Rowley, the National Public Affairs Manager of Subaru Australia.
Further information about the project is available on our CALD program page.
Media contact: Mr Benseon Apple – (02) 9265 2631, 0416 671 372