Three-way fire truck juggling act for Timaru

A three-way juggling act of fire trucks is the latest fleet issue related to reliability problems affecting firefighting equipment in the Timaru area.

The Timaru Fire Brigade (TFB) has revealed via an information page that they use to publicise issues during the ongoing industrial strike action, that its fleet, with some trucks that are 24-yearsold, is in a ‘‘dire state’’ and a Christchurch training appliance had been sent south to help cover the region.

The training truck had been in Timaru to cover another truck from Timaru, borrowed by the Washdyke station, that broke down on its way to callout in early July. That breakdown stranded four Washdyke firefighters on the side of the State Highway south of Timaru. The Christchurch truck then had to be sent back to Christchurch as one of their’s needed maintenance. ‘‘[Thursday] morning blue watch crews were kept busy doing a three-way swap, between the original Washdyke truck, the relief Washdyke truck which was borrowed from Timaru, and the borrowed Christchurch training truck,’’ TFB said. The three-way swap last Thursday was the second time in two days the Washdyke firefighters had to change trucks, but the first time they had to do a three-way swap.

‘‘Washdyke crews have had four appliance failures in the past four weeks with multiple truck changes to be able to maintain response capability. Changing trucks is becoming business as usual for us in Timaru, and we are fed up. It is risking the safety of the public as well as firefighters.’’

Rangitata MP Jo Luxton visited Washdyke station on Monday to hear their concerns and challenges first hand. The TFB said issues raised with Luxton included: Feeling incredibly undervalued by Fire and Emergency NZ; Poor resourcing and lack of modern and reliable equipment/fleet; The need to recognise the risk of workplace cancers that all fire fighters are exposed too; The lack of psychological well being support, and the lack of training for response to medical calls.