Land secured for new Aireys Inlet fire station

A NEW fire station will be built in Aireys Inlet, providing a major boost to volunteer firefighters in the town.

Member for Western Victoria Gayle Tierney joined members of the Aireys Inlet Fire Brigade to announce last week that land had been acquired on the Great Ocean Road, near the centre of town.

“I congratulate the CFA and the Aireys Inlet Fire Brigade for securing this land, which paves the way for a new state-of-the-art station to be built in the heart of the town,” she said.

“It’s vital that emergency services facilities are equipped to meet demand and are able to meet the challenges which a brigade in regional Victoria faces.”

Aireys Inlet CFA Captain Dave Morton said the new station would be great for the community once it was built.

“It’s going to be a great asset for the community and we were very lucky to get a great spot in the centre of town.

“The location will allow our members to respond much quicker to incidents.

“With the challenges of the fire season each year, we need all the assets we can get.”

The new station will replace the existing station on Pearse Road, which has been serving the community for 34 years, but is no longer big enough to accommodate the brigade’s appliances and equipment.

The land acquisition has been funded through the CFA Capital Program. The CFA will now work with the brigade to finalise a timeline for when the station will be built.

The Aireys Inlet Fire Brigade was established in 1948, and has 33 volunteer members.

Members are called out on average to almost 100 incidents each year.

The town’s existing station was built after the previous station was burnt down in the devastating 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires.

The brigade has provided firefighters to a number of major emergencies during the past 70 years, including the 2009 Black Saturday fires and the Wye River-Jamieson fire in 2015.