[Better Practice Case Studies in Fire Safety – Agapi Care]
[On screen text]
Warning. This video features fire experiences that may be confronting for some viewers.
[Voice over]
Better Practice Case Studies in Fire safety: Agapi Care.
[Soft music]
[Mary Gakopoulis - CEO, Agapi Care]
My name's Mary Gakopoulis, and I'm the Chief Executive Officer at Agapi Care.
Fire safety is very important for our staff and our participants who are our clients that we look after. They're the most vulnerable in the community, so we need to make sure that as they build their capacity and build their independence, that they're also aware of the potential of fire and the damage that fire can cause to not just property, but to an individual as well.
Well, I remember the fires that took place at Kinglake a few years back. Yeah, it was quite tragic. And I think that sort of impacted me and I've thought to myself, you know what? We've really got to help, especially our clients, understand the risks with fire and the damage it can potentially cause.
[Voice over]
Bush fires happen every summer and can be tragic. Fires can also start inside the home.
On average, there are 3000 home fires every year. Home fires are fast and dangerous.
62% of home fire fatalities involve people with a disability.
House fires can spread rapidly and with modern materials and furnishings, a room can be fully a light in less than three minutes.
[On screen]
A research video shows a lounge room where a fire starts in a Christmas tree. The fire begins at 0 seconds and spreads rapidly. By 30 seconds, the entire room is fully engulfed in flames.
[Mary]
So what we do is we look at who we support, and obviously we support the most vulnerable in the community. We also provide training on a yearly basis to our staff. They do the online course through CFA, which is very handy, and we've got some DVDs and clips that we've collated over the years through different scenarios that we perform internally, where we get staff to watch that and to get a better understanding.
When we're supporting people in their home, we are basically visitors. We're going in to provide them a service. We want to make sure that they're safe and we look after their wellbeing. So we make sure that we complete the in-home fire safety checklist that we have embedded within Agapi, and then we help them to understand why it's important for them to have smoke alarms, fire blankets, to help them in the kitchen if there's ever a fire. Other than smoke alarms we also have fire extinguishers.
We believe here at Agapi Care that fire safety is a shared responsibility. We all come together to have a better understanding of why it's important to support each other.
We use other organisations that we liaise with and we collaborate with to support our clients, and especially the ones that are living alone at home. They are the most vulnerable so we need to make sure that they are looked after, they've got an understanding of what the risks are, especially around fire and how to protect themselves. And like we said, it's a collaborative approach. We all share that responsibility.
[Manny - Agapi Care Client]
If there's a fire in the house, I'd get out of my house as soon as I can and I'll go to my assembly point.
[Voice over]
Fire safety is a shared responsibility between the individual and their informal supports, formal providers, and the fire services.
How can you improve your share of the responsibility?
To learn more, go to cfa.vic.gov.au/atrisk or frv.vic.gov.au/atrisk.
[Music fades]