- 27 January 2006 - Over eighty thousand Swimming Pools throughout Victoria can provide important sources of water in fire emergencies, said the Swimming Pool and Spa Association (SPASA) and urged pool owners to register their pools with local brigades especially in urban fringe areas.

Ted Martin with a fire fighting pump

SPASA says it believes there will be an increasing trend for people with pools to add a firefighting capacity to their pools as a fire safety measure. Mr Ted Martin, SPASA President said: "The average backyard swimming pool contains around 42,000 litres of water and can be easily used to damp down homes, fill spouts and maintain a spray over the home as the fire passes. "Once the fire passed the pool water can be used to extinguish spot fires and burning embers." Mr Martin said, a large number of pools in Victoria are found in fringe suburban areas such as Eltham, Warrandyte and Lysterfield where the bush meets the city urban fringe. "In recent times we have even seen suburbs destroyed such as in the Canberra fires.

"People with pools in these areas should have a petrol pump in place to ensure they have an independent pumping system which can dispense large amounts of water quickly and can include sprinklers fitted on the roof ridge of the home.

"This means the homeowners are independent of electricity which often fails during a fire.

"They are also independent of mains water supplies which can be drastically reduced because of demand in extreme situations."

Mr Martin said, "SPASA would be urging pool owners to register their pools with local fire brigades."