The first of CFA’s third-generation heavy pumper 2017 has been delivered to the newly-established Lucas Fire Brigade.
The new heavy pumper is now at the temporary Lucas Fire Station.
The truck arrived on 24 November to the District 15 DMO Workshop for final inspection. It is now ready to respond at the temporary Lucas Fire Station in Delacombe from Friday, 8 December.
The pumper is one of 12 built at Bell’s Fire and Rescue in Queensland, with the remaining appliances to be delivered to various locations over the coming months.
These new trucks are part of the Growth Programs’ 350 Firefighter Program - a Victorian Government commitment to employ 350 career firefighters, while building more infrastructure and promoting existing career firefighters to support the growing workforce.
Operations Manager Craig Brownlie said the new design would significantly increase operational capability for our firefighters, including enhancements to EMR stowage and Road Rescue Support.
“With new equipment and response capabilities, we needed to completely review how pumpers were laid out, so we went directly to the experts by asking our career firefighters what they saw as important upgrades,” Craig said.
“We used the feedback from a survey among operational members to increase the overall functionality of the pumper’s design.
“Our firefighters worked with their MFB counterparts to share knowledge to ensure we included equipment and functions that supported interoperability between our agencies, which makes cross-agency incident response more efficient and effective.”
Craig explained that over the past few years, battery technology has progress with a wide range of new equipment being released to emergency services.
“This design of our new heavy pumpers has embraced this advancement with efficient battery power replacing traditional petrol-powered equipment. This has the added advantage of reducing noise and improving safety for our firefighters,” he said.
“Careful consideration has also been given to the way that the equipment has been stowage and used by firefighters, resulting in a well-organized and ergonomic design.”
Three more pumpers are expected to be deployed to Eltham, Warrnambool and Mildura by Christmas.