Key Victorian energy infrastructure has been left with a significantly reduced capacity to fight fires.
Power Stations at Loy Yang and Yallourn are both serviced by Fire Rescue Victoria. FRV’s Morwell Fire Station has one of its four Pumpers in the La Trobe Valley area out of commission. Efforts are being made desperately by on-duty firefighters to locate a spare Pumper across Victoria.
Should a residential or commercial fire occur, all three of the remaining Pumpers in the area will be required, leaving Loy Yang and Yallourn without critical backup.
Should a situation arise, Victoria’s energy infrastructure will be significantly compromised.
The Pumper which is currently out of commission was used in the Hazlewood mine fire.
The nearest FRV is station is an hour away, at Pakenham.
This follows on from a similar instance two weeks ago from the same station.
For 24 hours, key Victorian energy infrastructure was left with a significantly reduced capacity to fight fires. Power Stations at Loy Yang and Yallourn are both serviced by Fire Rescue Victoria. A fortnight ago, FRV’s Morwell Fire Station had one of four Pumpers in the Latrobe Valley area out of commission.
Efforts were made desperately by on-duty firefighters to locate a spare Pumper across Victoria, with the only available option being Mildura due the shortage of spare Pumpers across the state due to faults.
Should a residential or commercial fire have occurred, all three of the remaining Pumpers in the area would have been required, leaving Loy Yang and Yallourn without critical backup.
If a situation had have occurred, Victoria’s energy infrastructure would have been significantly compromised.
This is an example of the risk career firefighters and the community at large are facing with a FRV fleet that is out of date and in need of urgent repair and upgrades.
