Caroline Springs Brigade with Luba Grigorovitch MP
Caroline Springs Fire Brigade has been handed the keys to a new heavy tanker over the weekend.
Member for Kororoit Luba Grigorovitch MP had the honour of officially handing over the new heavy tanker at the station yesterday.
Caroline Springs Captain Anthony Jenkins said the new heavy tanker is a next generation tanker and will enhance the brigade's ability to serve the community.
“It has additional water carrying capacity, it's higher off the ground and it has better capabilities as far as four wheel drive and off road vehicles," Anthony said.
"It's much easier for our members to operate and it's a lot safer with new rollover protection cages."
"We trained tirelessly for weeks so that we'd be ready to use it as soon as it was handed to us."
"We had the tanker throughout summer and we took it to one of the strike team deployments at Beaufort.
"We put it through its paces, saved a couple of houses and hit the Beaufort fire head on in Raglan. It was a huge benefit to us."
Caroline Springs is one of 48 brigades to receive a new, replacement heavy tanker funded in the CFA Capability Funding package.
A total of $22.73 million has been invested to produce 48 heavy tankers and two light tankers.
"We operate two fire stations and we rotate our tankers on a 30 day basis," Anthony said.
"At the end of every month, the light tanker and the heavy tanker will switch stations and that gives both brigade memberships an opportunity to train and become familiar with it."
The Caroline Springs Fire Brigade has 28 operational members, with a total membership of 51. Eleven members are female.
Over the past two years, the brigade has averaged around 450 call outs per year and predominantly responds to structure fires and bushfires in the summer.
CFA Chief Officer Jason Heffernan said tankers are a vital part of CFA’s fleet.
“The new tankers are state-of-the-art firefighting vehicles and we’re committed to providing our volunteers with the best and safest infrastructure,” Jason said.