Forging ahead: Portarlington fire station takes shape

THINGS are starting to heat up in Portarlington with the new fire station taking shape.

After many months of seeking and securing land, thoroughly perusing plans, negotiating changes, waiting for tenders to be completed, waiting for builders to be appointed and the old fire station to be demolished, members are excited to see the result of their hard work as construction has started and is moving along quickly.

The new fire station will have a three-vehicle garage, dedicated change rooms that will allow members to safely change into their safety gear and remove the potential for members to be hit by a moving vehicle when changing and a specialised equipment cleaning room.

A brigade office, Brigade Administrative Support Officer (BASO) office, and multipurpose room with new multimedia equipment – thanks to the Bendigo Bank Portarlington Community Grants Program – will also form part of the new facility. The multipurpose room will be used by brigade members, members from the Bellarine group and community groups within Portarlington.

“This equipment will allow the brigade to run even more effective training programs, will allow for training to be conducted with all brigades within the Bellarine group, will give local community groups access to state-of-the-art multimedia equipment, if required, and will enable the brigade to be kept informed of all incidents occurring throughout the state,” Captain Darren Nisbet said.

“Members are very excited at the prospect of utilising new online training material that will give them additional knowledge and skills to better assist the community when emergency situations occur.

“The better trained we are, the better the result when we respond.

“Brigade members train on a regular basis to ensure their skills are maintained.

“Our community is continuing to grow, and as a result our risks and potential for emergency situations
to occur continue to increase, so we believe that enhancing our skills will assist with responding to calls, if needed.”

The expected completion date of the new station is late September, given there are no further weather delays.

The brigade, temporarily located at St Patrick’s Church, hope to take ownership and be operational from the new station from about mid-October.

If you would like to be a part of this team and become a volunteer of the Portarlington Fire Brigade phone Captain Darren Nisbet on 0409 860 206 or 1st Lieutenant Rob Snell on 0414 432 253.