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Fire deaths spark alert

FIRE and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) Commissioner Paul Baxter is pleading with the public to heed safety warnings after the deaths of 10 people in house fires this winter, saying most of the tragedies were ‘preventable’.

The latest death occurred on Saturday when fire engulfed a home at Bankstown, killing a 62-year-old man in his bedroom.
It was one of three house fires in three days in Canterbury Bankstown, with an elderly couple self-evacuating after their home in Lakemba went up in flames on Friday night while a woman broke her leg when she jumped from the balcony of her second-level unit in Punchbowl last Thursday.
Commissioner Baxter says the high winter fire death toll Is devastating, and most of the fatal fires could have been avoided.
“The message is loud and clear and not enough people are paying attention,” he said.
“We spend a lot of money on burglar alarms to stop people stealing our big screen TVs.
“We install smart CCTV systems to make sure no one steals our internet purchases from the front porch.
“We need to wake up and take simple inexpensive steps to protect our irreplaceable things, our lives.”

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