CFA free two kids from car

THE Berwick CFA was extremely busy last weekend following a string of call-outs.
Berwick Fire Brigade Captain Alan Boyd said the brigade had responded to three calls for help on Friday, the first to rescue two children locked in a car at Wilson Botanic Park.
Capt Boyd said a child had activated the central-locking system while their mother’s keys were in the car.
He said the woman’s attempts to get into the vehicle had failed and firefighters broke into the car after other attempts to open the doors were unsuccessful and the children began showing signs of being affected by the heat.
“Even though the vehicle was parked in a shady area and the day was not extreme, the inside of the car had become very hot.
“Ambulance crews checked the children over before they went home,” Capt Boyd said.
Capt Boyd said the CFA attended two other calls before the day was out, one a rubbish-bin fire in Gloucester Avenue and the other a fire that caused considerable damage to a restored classic Volkswagen sedan in Kangan Drive.
Capt Boyd said crews were called to a single-vehicle accident in Parkhill Drive Berwick on Sunday that left a large quantity of oil on the road.
He said a late model sedan had collided with a tree during the incident and firefighters had spread absorbent material on the road to take care of the spill.
Capt Boyd said crews were out on the road again at 4.40pm when they attended another car fire in Berwick.
He said crews arrived to find a sedan parked outside a Tyrell Place house ablaze and a column of black smoke filling the air.
“The owner had recently been out in the car and parked it outside. He was alerted to the fire by passing motorists on Clyde Road who saw the fire.
“There was little that fire crews could do to save the vehicle. It was gutted in the blaze,” he said.
Capt Boyd said that later in the day the brigade supported Beaconsfield to a fire in the vicinity of the Beaconsfield Railway Station and Narre Warren to a smell of smoke in Sallybrook Circuit.