By Mikayla van Loon
Living in a bushfire prone area, every defence mechanism people have to protect themselves is vital, that’s why one local school has been getting an updated fire safety system installed in the last few weeks.
Being surrounded by 17 acres of bushland in Mount Evelyn, St Mary’s Catholic Primary School is in an idyllic natural setting but with that comes the heightened risk of bushfire.
The school has recently received a State government grant to help replace the outdated fire system that was installed when the school was established in the 1980s.
Principal Ange Glennie said the system is a network of pipes under the ground, regulated by a jack pump and in the event of a fire, the CFA would tap into it to get their water supply.
“Being on the bushfire risk register, we have to take that very seriously. It became quite obvious that the age of our pipes were 40 plus years old, and no longer complied,” she said.
“The pipes couldn’t cope with the pressure coming from the new jack pump and we had a few months when we had several floods because things would burst. Finally, the decision was made that it needed to be replaced, which is absolutely major work.”
Ms Glennie said the new system would not only benefit the school and the church on the property but surrounding houses as well.
“It’s fantastic that it’s happening, because of course it means we can, as much as we can, guarantee the safety of us but also of the neighbouring properties as well.
“Because we’ve got the access, should they be in trouble, this is where they tap into, so it is going to be of benefit for the neighbours.”
Ms Glennie said it is a timely reminder for the community to check what they may have underground.
“It just highlights for our whole community, whether that be residents, whether that be kinders or whomever just to consider what’s under the ground and is it adequate?”
Although in Ms Glennie’s 26 years being at the school she has only been evacuated to the church once, she said it’s about preventing the possibility of fires reaching the school in the future.
“In early December of last year we had a small fire on the boundary where there’s a Buddhist centre and we went out, saw the smoke, I could see the flames.
“The amount of bush that we have on this side, compounded by the fact that we were absolutely smashed by the storms in June, we couldn’t get down there but thankfully it was contained by the CFA.”
The project still has three weeks left before it is complete but workers have been minimising the disturbance to the 390 students at the school, as they drill underground during classes and clean up the yard for play.
Part of the installation of the system includes two large water tanks, to add a sustainability element to the project.
Ms Glennie said the total of the project sits in the ballpark of $400,000, with some funding from the Supplementary Grants Program.
As a Catholic school she said it was by no means easy to receive the funding until engineers and representatives saw the expansiveness of the property for themselves.
Although not criticising the system, Ms Glennie said when it comes to things like a bushfire safety system that is so essential, funding should be balanced between Catholic and State schools.
“It’s never about Catholic schools versus State but I wouldn’t want there to be a misunderstanding that this has been an easy hand out of money. It hasn’t. And it also came with a commitment from the school to match what the State government was putting in.
“For us to clear the devastation from the bush just to get the fallen trees out to a point where they were able to be chopped up was $40,000 and we’re responsible for keeping down the undergrowth. So for example, slashing of the land comes in at $15,000 every two years.”
As a low fee Catholic school none of the families’ fees will go towards the funding of these projects but it does make it difficult to fund beautification works the school so desperately needs.
“The school’s been able to self fund 95 per cent of upgrades to the school over the last 12 years but there’s one block left that we are working really hard to be able to do but it’s expensive.
“A learning block, which is predominantly made up of relocatable classrooms, has come to the end of its life.
“Rebuilding on that same site is what we’re aiming for. If it doesn’t happen, in true spirit, we’ll continue on to make the best of what we can and continue to provide those really rich learning opportunities for the kids.”
