Gearing up for new road
Firies kitted out for heavy vehicle work
FEARS over heavy vehicle road carnage on the newly sealed Peninsula Development Rd have prompted the addition of specialised equipment into the arsenal of Far Northern firefighters.
A purpose-built heavy vehicle road crash rescue trailer was among more than $1 million worth of gear handed to the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services in the region this week.
Worth $100,000, the trailer features various devices specifically for use at crashes involving road trains, trucks, trains and machinery, including a high platform and large hydraulic lifts, and will be based at Mareeba.
QFES Far North Assistant Commissioner Michelle Young said with a growing volume of traffic expected on the PDR as the sealing continues, the new equipment was vital.
“We’re seeing lots more accidents involving that sort of vehicle, especially because we’re going to have a major highway going all the way up to
Weipa (as) soon as that sealed road continues,” she said. “In completion, we’re going to see a lot more traffic going through and obviously when COVID-19 restrictions ease up, we’ll see a lot more of that traffic.”
The region has also taken possession of a new $800,000 fire truck.
“It was purposefully built to respond to bushfires, grassfires, technical response and road crash rescues. It has a rear mounted pump that can disperse 4500L of water per minute,” Fire and Emergency Services Minister Craig Crawford said. “It will service an area that extends to Palm Cove in the north and Machans Beach in the south.”
The region also received an all-terrain vehicle, additional swift water rescue gear and a storage trailer.
IT WAS PURPOSEFULLY BUILT TO RESPOND TO BUSHFIRES, GRASSFIRES, TECHNICAL RESPONSE AND ROAD CRASH RESCUES