UFU Victoria

United Firefighters Union of Australia
Victorian Branch

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Following strong advocacy from local UFU delegates and members in Mildura, the community of Northwestern Victoria will benefit from the services of a new Pumper Platform.

Local delegates, Luke Alexander and Matt Duda, with the support of local firefighters have been instrumental in obtaining this new appliance for the community.

One of the first new primary appliances to be delivered to FRV in 4 years has arrived at Fire Station 72 this week. The firefighters at FS72 still have some additional training to complete, but this new truck will be out protecting the community in the next few weeks.

The firefighters at FS72 completed a course on this vehicle over 12 months ago, and since then the UFU has been advocating to get it brought online to help with the ongoing truck crisis. This new truck will be in place of the unreliable Aerial Pumper 72, which has featured in multiple media articles, radio interviews and social media posts highlighting the danger to community safety FRV’s truck crisis poses.

Following months of local UFU delegate advocacy and the Derimut Fire once again highlighting the need to replace the aging aerial fleet, the UFU’s campaigning on this issue has finally resulted in this truck being placed into commission.

Whilst we welcome the delivery of new trucks, it is worth noting:

– the unreliable Aerial Pumper isnt being replaced, just moved to a different station, putting a different Victorian community at risk

– even with these new trucks coming online FRV still has nearly half its fleet past their used by date, with no plans or funding to replace them

– the aerial fleet across all of Victoria is in dire need of replacement, which even the most recent funding announcement doesn’t keep pace with.