Sunshine has been left without a fire truck as summer kicks off.
At about 9.30pm on Sunday, December 1, a 22-year-old fire truck stationed at Sunshine broke down, and no replacement was available.
The crew of four who would usually use the truck to respond to emergencies had no truck available if they were called out.
One of two pumper trucks based at West Melbourne station also went offline due to a failed low water alarm.
United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall called on FRV commissioner Gavin Freeman to deliver a public explanation for the failures.
“Two of Melbourne’s busiest stations had key trucks go down last night and Fire Rescue Victoria had no replacement and no plan for what to do,” he said.
“That’s three consecutive shifts in the case of West Melbourne, and two in the case of Sunshine, where firefighters know that if they are called out to a potentially life threatening emergency they have no usable truck. This is the result of years of negligence and underinvestment in emergency response capability by FRV and emergency services minister Jaclyn Symes.”
Mr Marshall said nearly one in two trucks in the state is past its 15 year use by date, and by the end of 2025 that figure will jump to two in three.
An FRV spokesperson said “The safety of our firefighters, other first responders and the community is paramount.”
“At all times, Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) ensures that appropriate equipment is deployed to emergencies to protect firefighters and the community.
“There is no single point of dependency. We continually utilise our full fleet across the state to ensure a high level of availability for emergency response.”
A spokesperson said the state government had delivered more than $100 million to ensure our firefighters have the trucks, resources and equipment they need.
“As part of this year’s budget we delivered more than $15.4 million for five new FRV pumper platforms – this is in addition to the 23 trucks and support vehicles already on their way to FRV.”
Gerald Lynch
