NEW BULLENGAROOK TANKERS TO KEEP COMMUNITIES SAFE
The Bullengarook and Macedon community will be better protected thanks to record funding from the Labor government with local Country Fire Authority (CFA) volunteers receiving two new tankers to support their response to fires and other emergencies.
Parliamentary Secretary for Emergency Services, Ryan Batchelor and Member for Macedon, Mary-Anne Thomas, today handed over the new $510,000 medium tanker and $160,000 ultra-light tanker to Bullengarook Fire Brigade.
The medium tanker was funded through CFA’s capital program, while the ultra-light tanker was jointly funded by Bullengarook Fire Brigade and the Victorian Government’s Volunteer Emergency Services Equipment Program (VESEP).
Labor has doubled funding available through VESEP, supporting more CFA brigades across Victoria with the equipment, facilities and trucks they need to keep Victorians safe. That is part of record funding we have delivered for emergency services, doubling funding since we came to government to $2.4 billion.
The new medium tanker replaces the brigade’s single-cab tanker and carries 2350 litres of water, with four-wheel drive capability to support firefighters responding across rural and difficult terrain.
It can carry a crew of five safely inside the cabin and includes a front-mounted monitor, allowing firefighters to operate the suppression system from inside the vehicle.
The new ultra-light tanker is built on a five-star ANCAP-rated four-wheel drive Ford Ranger and carries 550 litres of water.
It also includes a 500-litre-a-minute pump, Class A foam system and 30-metre live hose reel, as well as improved lighting, storage and access to equipment.
Bullengarook Fire Brigade has 42 members, including 20 operational members, and responds to an average of around 40 incidents each year.
Brigade members supported communities during last summer’s fires, including at Ravenswood, Harcourt, Clarkefield and Bacchus Marsh, and regularly assist Forest Fire Management Victoria with planned burns.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Emergency Services, Paul Edbrooke:
“Bullengarook volunteers make an enormous contribution to their community, including supporting the response to major fires across the region last summer.”
“These new tankers are part of Labor’s record funding for our emergency services of more than $2.4 billion, delivering more trucks, stations and equipment to people on the frontline. All of this is at risk from a Liberal-One Nation coalition who would make $40 billion of cuts.”
Quotes attributable to Parliamentary Secretary for Emergency Services, Ryan Batchelor:
“The Labor Government back our amazing CFA volunteers right across the state and here in Bullengarook they do a great job keeping Victorians safe. We are providing modern and safer equipment to help them respond when their community needs them”
Quotes attributable to Member for Macedon, Mary-Anne Thomas:
“Bullengarook CFA volunteers are an important part of the community here in Macedon and I’m proud to be part of a government who is delivering the trucks they need to keep us all safe.”
