Ten new vehicles, including seven water tankers and three medium rescue trucks, are ready to be delivered to Fire and Rescue and Rural Fire Service stations across Queensland
Firefighters across Queensland are set to benefit from the delivery of more than $7 million in new firefighting trucks and water tankers.
Three medium Fire and Rescue trucks and seven RFS tankers are waiting at the QFES workshops at Eagle Farm, ready to be delivered to stations from south-east Queensland, right up into the far-north.
All built locally at Narangba, Queensland, the new FRS vehicles all play a vital role across a wide range of rescue scenarios, including road crash rescue and swift water rescue.
The new FRS trucks will go to Brisbane, Northern and Far Northern regions, while the new RFS tankers will go to Central and North Coast Regions, as well as Brigalow, Gympie South, Canondale, Withcott, and Glenwood fire brigades.
They will replace existing aged units.
Five of the seven new RFS tankers have a 7000-litre capacity, with two 12,000-litre tankers being delivered.
The tankers help provide additional water support at the scene of large-scale structure and vegetation fires.
This is the first two of 13 of the larger 12,000-litre tankers set to be delivered as part of the current fleet program.
The 2023-24 QFES fleet budget comprises of $18.7 million for new FRS trucks, on top of about $23 million for new RFS trucks, support vehicles and the retrofitting of deluge systems that protect personnel from passing vegetation fires.
The current build program provides for the procurement of 210 appliances across Fire and Rescue and RFS, including 89 FRS vehicles from 2022-23 to 2024-25 and 121 RFS vehicles from 2022-23 to 2023-24.
In addition, QFES is working to deliver 55 appliances that were part of the 2021-22 program but were delayed due to supply challenges.
That brings the total number of new vehicles to be delivered to 265, including 147 for RFS and 118 for FRS.
Quotes attributable to Minister Nikki Boyd:
"The Queensland Government is committed to supporting firefighters, especially after what has been a busy past few months due to bushfires, a cyclone and flooding across vast areas of the state," Ms Boyd said.
"The vast skill level and commitment of our QFES personnel was on display throughout these incidents – whether that was through our RFS volunteers fighting vegetation fires in October and November or our swift water firefighters rescuing people from dangerous floodwater in the state's Far North or more recently in south-east Queensland.
"This investment supports the vital work of Fire and Rescue Firefighters and RFS volunteers and helps them do their jobs as safely and effectively as possible.
"The tankers and medium appliances will maintain QFES's operational capability across the state.
"The State Government has committed almost $43 million to the QFES fleet and it is great to see the results of that investment. Of course, this represents a third of our total $125 million QFES capital works budget for 2023-24, which was a record spend on these life-saving services."
Quotes attributable to A/Commissioner Stephen Smith
"This is a welcome boost for firefighters. Our medium rescue appliances and tankers all play a vital role in a range of emergency call outs for our crews," Mr Smith said.
"Medium rescue appliances provide support to our heavy rescue vehicles at the scene of a range of incidents, including road traffic crashes, swift water, vertical, confined space, trench and urban search and rescue.
"The RFS tankers provide additional water supply not only in large scale bushfires, but also for structure fires in remote or hard to access areas with no reticulated supply.
"Our multi-year approach to fleet procurement has allowed us to plan for challenges with lead times due to recent difficulties in supply.
"QFES is continuing to work with suppliers and vehicle body build vendors to streamline delivery of new appliances. We are conducting regular meetings with suppliers to ensure our program remains on schedule.
"To ensure the longevity of these new vehicles, QFES' specialized teams in regional workshops across the state will play an ongoing and role in their maintenance to ensure they're on the road for years to come."
