On Friday 22 February, Wonthaggi brigade was paged to a report of an electrical transformer fire at the Victorian desalination site.
Wonthaggi brigade was quick to respond along with Dalyston and Inverloch brigades. Capt Kim O’Connor was crew leader of the pumper and once on scene a word back of Structure Fire Not Yet Under Control and make pumpers 3.
A quick size up of the job was needed as there was many exposures and fire fighters had to wait for the power to be isolated before the firefight could commence. Inverloch pumper set up the boost point and San Remo pumper remained on scene to cover the area if needed.
A second page was sent out for more BA wearers; at this point Cranbourne Pumper was enroute with further BA wearers. Cranbourne Pumper was called of enroute once the fire was under control.
Captain of the Dalyston fire brigade Roger O’Brien was the incident controller and Captain Kim O’Connor became the Operations Officer. The two of them worked closely with the plant operators and the fire was under control within an hour.
Operations Officer Paul Caligari attended and commended the great work by all involved.
It is estimated that the fire caused over $100,000 worth of damage.
Due to the warm weather and strong hot winds, members found themselves using the new recovery chairs from the Bass Coast Group.
Vehicles on scene were,
Wonthaggi Pumper
Wonthaggi Pumper 9
Wonthaggi HAZMAT
Wonthaggi Tanker 1
Dalyston Tanker
Dalyston Slip On
Inverloch Pumper
San Remo Pumper
Cranbourne Pumper (stopped enroute)
Ops Officer Car
Bass Coast Group FCV
VicPol
Author: Jamie Moresco