By Raquel Mustillo
EMERGENCY Minister Vincent Tarzia says the deployment of two new fire trucks to Seaford and Mount Barker Metropolitan Fire Stations (MFS) despite Mount Gambier attending more call outs than either station is an “operational decision”.
In this week’s sitting of parliament, independent MP Troy Bell asked Mr Tarzia detail why the Mount Gambier MFS was scheduled to receive a second-hand truck.
Mr Tarzia did not provide a rationale behind the allocation of resources in his three-and-a-half-minute answer, instead deferring responsibility of deployment to MFS executives.
He said the Mount Gambier had a capability boost in 2016 with a new combination aerial pumping appliance and confirmed the station will receive a “newly refurbished” pumper before the upcoming danger season.
“MFS appliances are given a midlife refurb, rebuild, and that certainly extends their operational response life significantly and, therefore, the value to the South Australian community,” he said.
“Of course, the MFS and deployment of appliances right throughout the MFS is an operational decision.
“All stations in time will also benefit from those new appliances by mentoring the system with appliances that may need to be retired, or midlife appliances when they are refurbished as well.”
Mr Tarzia said another eight state-of-the-art firefighting trucks were on track to be delivered ahead of the 2022 State Election.
Documents obtained under Freedom of Information and viewed by The Border Watch show the MFS proposed replacement schedule, with an 11-year-old appliance from Seaford earmarked for Mount Gambier.
The documents reveal both the main and secondary trucks used by Mount Gambier crews are almost 20 years old – exceeding the optimal age limit by five years.
According to the MFS 2019/20 performance report, Mount Gambier station attended 439 incidents – more than 230 incidents than Mount Barker and 149 more than Seaford.
While Mount Barker and Seaford crews are supported by neighbouring MFS stations, Mount Gambier MFS is predominately backed by volunteer emergency services as the closest station is Murray Bridge.
“When you’re in the city, you know you’ve got someone coming to back you up but in Mount Gambier, they are not coming,” United Firefighters Union South Australia secretary Max Adlam said.
“There’s only the volunteer services who are providing support.
“I understand the first 10 minutes of a fire is absolutely critical, so our people take great pride in their fast response and meet the criteria 95pc of the time.
“Firefighters aren’t able to meet that criteria with ageing trucks.”
Ms Adler said a lack of funding and specialised knowledge in the MFS engineering department meant some trucks scheduled for refurbishment were being returned to crews without being fixed.
“Operationally, these trucks work very hard and they need to be repaired, but we don’t have an engineering department that is up to task because the government and MFS have run it to a skeleton crew,” she said.
“What we are doing is outsourcing to people who don’t understand emergency service vehicles, so sometimes thinks are coming back and they are not even fixed.
“We are paying millions of dollars every year for that instead of having a engineering department with specialised technicians.
“It really is a critical situation, but I’m afraid until someone is injured or dies, they won’t listen to us and will keep treating the issue as a joke.”
