The Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) has announced the rollout of the next generation of locally made vehicles, bolstering the State’s firefighting capability ahead of the bushfire season.
Eight new vehicles were unveiled at the Fire and Emergency Services Academy, demonstrating key improvements that have been made to the emergency services fleet.
Minister for Emergency Services, Francis Logan said the rollout included a Road Crash Rescue Tender, designed to be the primary road crash response vehicle in rural and coastal locations, and a General Rescue Utility, a land search-and-rescue vehicle used primarily by the State Emergency Services.
“The new fleet has enhanced safety features, increased water capacity for firefighters and, importantly, improved off-road capabilities for regional brigades,” Mr Logan said.
“More than 170 emergency services volunteers and career personnel have been closely involved in the design and delivery of new vehicles, undertaking innovation workshops, user testing and providing feedback.”
He said the vehicles were part of a $125 million allocation to local emergency services manufacturing, which included new manufacturing work in Malaga and Collie.
“DFES has worked with volunteers and career officers to redesign WA’s emergency services fleet to improve community safety and provide the appliances that work best for each situation,” Mr Logan said.
“As part of the locally built new generation vehicles, volunteers also now have more truck chassis to choose from. This option was introduced after extensive consultation with volunteers across the State who all expressed different needs.”
The DFES operational fleet consists of more than 1,600 vehicles, capable of responding to a range of hazards including bushfires, structure fires, cyclones, rescue, storms, floods and HAZMAT incidents.
