RECENT safety improvements at Trentham's Cosmopolitan Hotel may have saved lives, the CFA said yesterday, only days after the historic pub was badly damaged by fire.
CFA Fire Safety Officer for the Midlands/Wimmera area Brendan Brown said the weekend fire could easily have been a second Childers had safety improvements not been finalised last month.
Fifteen young people lost their lives when the Queensland backpacker hostel at Childers caught fire in June 2000.
Mr Brown said the CFA's recommendations led to a number of fire safety improvements being carried out at the Cosmopolitan Hotel.
"In partnership with 15 local municipalities, the CFA has been carrying out pro-active inspections of identified high-risk sites, like places of accommodation or public entertainment venues," Mr Brown
said. "It's been an ongoing project which the CFA started just over 12 months ago and is continuing into the future.
"During that time, the CFA has inspected well over 80 premises, including the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Trentham this year.
"We signed-off on their compliance about a month ago when all the upgrades were up to scratch."
Mr Brown said improvement works carried out at the hotel included improved door hardware, exit signage and emergency lighting, and hard-wiring of smoke alarms, meaning they were not reliant on
batteries.
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