WAGGA’S fire fighters and road crash rescuers have grave concerns about plans afoot to establish the city’s emergency services precinct in the city’s north.
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It comes after council last night unanimously pledged in-principle support for an Emergency Services Precinct and set aside nine hectares of land near the corner of Olympic Highway and Coolamon Road in Cartwrights Hill.
Secretary of Glenfield Rural Fire Brigade Lesley Ford spoke on behalf of her entire station when she said the move would delay response times.
“We have extinguished some 14 car fires in the close outskirts of Ashmont and Glenfield this year alone,” she said.
“Our response time will go from an excellent five to seven minutes, to 30 to 40 minutes.
“It would be a 24 kilometre turn-around and at 4.30pm we have no hope of getting over the Gobba Bridge quickly.”
Squad captain of the Wagga Rescue Squad, Tim Lidden, echoed the concerns of his fire fighting colleagues.
“We have 18 volunteers in the Wagga Rescue Squad, all who live around five minutes from our Bolton street station,” Mr Lidden said.
“If we move out to Cartwrights Hill, it could take us half an hour just to get to the rescue truck before attending a motor vehicle accident.”
The relocation plans were set in train by the Rural Fire Service (RFS), which commissioned a $100,000 master plan recommending Wagga’s Fire and Rescue, Volunteer Rescue Association, State Emergency Service and RFS move to one location.
Councillors did not share the same concerns as local first responders, claiming the site was perfectly positioned for the city’s future expansion.
Councillor Garry Hiscock “couldn’t support this more”, likening it to modernising the Hampden Bridge, Kapooka Bridge and Wagga hospital.
The master plan includes an RFS control centre and station, a Fire and Rescue zone office and station, the local SES and Volunteer Rescue units, as well as training facilities.
