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Fire Rescue Victoria requested funding in the most recent State budget for extra technical rescue support, but Mr Shearer said the relevant department didn\u2019t allocate any money to the issue.<\/p>\n
A statement from the office of the Minister for Emergency Services said the State has \u201censured\u201d Fire Rescue Victoria has the \u201cnecessary resources they need,\u201d and is reviewing their capabilities, including in trench rescue.<\/p>\n
\u201cBallarat is classified as a technical rescue station, which means there are specialist staff and rescue equipment on site for immediate use when needed,\u201d a State Government spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the deployment of technical equipment is an operational decision for FRV, we have asked FRV to continue to work with industrial partners and other stakeholders on options to further supplement the technical capabilities around Ballarat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Shearer said the idea that there are trained personnel in Ballarat ready to respond to an incident of this kind is \u201csimply not the case… and inaccurate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve done the maths over the last two rosters, and on average, there\u2019s 0.5 of a firefighter trained for trench rescue in any one shift,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Professional firefighters in Ballarat have written to the Minister requesting a face-to-face meeting and are awaiting a response.<\/p>\n
They have planned a six-month campaign, aiming to \u201chold the government accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Upper house member for Western Victoria, Stuart Grimley, and said having all the right tools on hand and ready to go is incredibly important.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can only imagine the pain and frustration these firefighters would experience not being able to help someone, because they must wait for the specialist equipment to come from Melbourne,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt could quite literally mean the difference between life or death. Regional councils, like Ararat and Ballarat, are seeing new housing estates entering the development stage. With this comes extensive excavation works with many trenches being dug.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou would expect that emergency services have the specialist equipment available to help if something goes wrong. It would be money well spent commissioning this equipment and upskilling our professional firefighters. If it… saves just one life, then it has served its purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n
The State\u2019s response said Fire Rescue Victoria has specialist appliances in Ballarat including a technical rescue vehicle, hazardous materials truck, ladder platform, and three pumpers with basic rescue gear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PROFESSIONAL firefighters in Ballarat are lobbying State Minister for Emergency Services, Jaclyn Symes, to boost the region\u2019s heavy technical rescue capabilities. Fire Rescue Victoria\u2019s Luke Shearer is Station Officer at the Lucas brigade and a United Firefighters Union delegate. He\u2019s part of a call for 10 additional firefighters to be put on the minimum crewing […]<\/p>\n