ACT United Firefighters Union (UFU) Secretary Greg McConville says the inadequacy of Canberra’s firefighting resources was exposed on Thursday.

“The United Firefighters’ Union have revealed that ACT firefighters are being forced to use a Bronto truck borrowed from the CSIRO that has inadequate safety features, and requires a day permit to drive on the roads in order to respond to emergencies,” Greg said.

“ACT Fire and Rescue had reached a crisis point, and that inadequate resourcing of the firefighting service could cost lives.

“Inadequate resourcing for ACT firefighters has left the Government begging and borrowing inadequate emergency equipment – to be used at our own risk and the risk of the ACT public.

“We are understaffed, under resourced and under prepared for the next major bush fire or other emergency. We must take action now before the lives of ACT people are put at further risk.

“A major fire in Fyshwick yesterday required all of Canberra’s specialist appliances: the Bronto aerial firefighting appliance, Breathing Apparatus truck and Hazmat truck, as well as pumpers from 3 stations and tankers from 2 stations. 2 other pumpers were otherwise deployed. This meant that the pumper from Kambah responded as the sole appliance to a fire call on level 9 of the multi storey Abode Hotel in Phillip: the only other crewed appliance available was in Gungahlin.

“Had there been a serious fire at the Abode Hotel, I fear what would have happened. There was no aerial appliance available to access upper floors.

“The ACT only has one specialised vehicle for firefighting in tall buildings and it’s often broken down. We do not have enough specialised vehicles for managing HAZMAT or incidents requiring breathing apparatus – yesterday’s events show that this is dismally inadequate. For several hours yesterday, Canberra had only one crewed fire appliance available to respond.

“A replacement 44 metre Bronto truck would cost $1.5 million or a combined pumper / aerial appliance could cost as little as $800,000 – it’s a small investment to safeguard the lives of over 300,000 people.

“In response to the funding crisis the ‘ACT on Fire – Rescue Canberra’s Future’ Campaign is calling on all MPs and candidates to pledge support for a properly resourced and well organised fire and rescue service.

“One of my main concerns is that this borrowed truck can’t offer the basic protections needed to help keep our firefighters safe.

“The CSIRO Bronto has no water capacity, so it can’t fight fires, and it can’t create a water curtain to protect the cage from the radiant heat of a fire. It has no emergency descent mechanism or fixed ladder for firefighters who need to exit from the cage in an emergency.

“On top of everything, in order to use this borrowed truck which is an hour and a half away from Canberra in Tidbinbilla, we require a day permit from ACT Roads because it’s unregistered – so this truck may not always be available for legal use, not to mention the huge administrative burden and the time involved to get access to it.

“If it were to be used for rescue work, it’s simply not fit for purpose. It is difficult to imagine how anyone thought it was a good idea to enter a legally binding agreement with the CSIRO to use this piece of equipment which is actually owned by NASA and is used for maintaining satellite dishes”

Mr McConville said that over the next five weeks firefighters will be hitting the streets and shopping centres of Canberra to talk with the community about our concerns and hopes.

“We’ll be asking the people of the ACT to join us in calling on all MPs and candidates to make supporting the ACT Fire and Rescue a key priority at the next election so we can rescue Canberra’s future.

Join the campaign at actonfire.com.au or follow the Firefighters ACT Facebook page.