New wheels for firefighters

By Lachlan Ellis

With a harsh fire season predicted this year, local firefighters have received a timely upgrade, with new Heavy Tanker trucks provided.

Boasting the latest firefighting technology and a greater water capacity than existing trucks, seven new Heavy Tankers have been rolled out in the broader Ballarat area this month, with one of the trucks given to the Ballan Fire Brigade.

Local Fire Brigade Captain Ben Hatfield said the new Heavy Tanker had arrived at a perfect time.

“For us it’s come at the right time, just before fire season, which by all accounts seems like it’ll be a busy season. It’s definitely a timely gain for us,” Mr Hatfield told the Moorabool News.

“Basically, they’re the brand-new iteration of CFA’s Heavy Tankers. They come with more water, the newest safety systems and pumps.”

Mr Hatfield said it will help enhance their capacity.

“It replaces a 20-year-old tanker we’ve had in service for a long time, and lets us use the latest equipment we’ve got available,” he said.

Other District 15 CFA brigades set to receive Heavy Tankers are Buninyong-Mt Helen, Creswick, Daylesford, Miners Rest, Napoleons-Enfield and Wendouree.

CFA Chief Officer Jason Heffernan said the state-of-the-art assets were a welcome addition.

“The Heavy Tankers feature a 15-tonne crew-cab chassis with a 4000-water litre tank, electronic monitors and electric rewind hose reels.

Their 4×4 capability and automatic transmission will help crews access fires in difficult terrain,” Mr Heffernan said.

“The heavy tankers also have a 1200 litres per minute diesel engine-driven firefighting pump, crew/vehicle rollover and burnover protection and full equipment stowage cache.”

Also being provided to the District is an ‘Ultra-Heavy Tanker’ with a capacity of 10,000 litres of water, which will be housed at Ballarat City Fire Station.

District 15 consists of 62 brigades. The seven brigades receiving the heavy tankers are supported by 471 volunteers that have responded to almost 570 incidents since the beginning of the year.