Communities across Geelong, North Geelong, Corio, Lara, Norlane, Moorabool, Highton, Batesford and Altona deserve more than reassurance — they deserve certainty when it comes to emergency protection.
At present, Fire Rescue Victoria’s specialist hazmat capability that supports the Geelong region is not guaranteed to be locally available at all times, with coverage dependent on statewide fleet availability, maintenance cycles, and operational deployment across Victoria.
When these specialist units are unavailable in the immediate area, response may be required from Ballarat (Lucas) or metropolitan Melbourne — adding significant distance and time at precisely the moment when minutes matter most in a chemical, refinery, or industrial incident.
This is not a theoretical risk. The Geelong corridor contains some of Victoria’s most significant petrochemical and industrial infrastructure, where any major hazardous material incident would demand rapid, highly specialised intervention.
Frontline firefighters continue to do their job under increasing operational strain, but the system they rely on is being asked to stretch specialist resources across too wide a footprint.
The question for government is simple:
how long can a high-risk industrial region like Geelong remain dependent on distant backup for critical hazmat response capability?
This is not about individual crews — it is about resourcing, resilience, and whether emergency services are being properly equipped to match the risk profile of the communities they are tasked with protecting.
Geelong and surrounding suburbs are not a “secondary priority” in an emergency event. They are a major industrial centre — and they deserve a response system that reflects that reality.