Whilst reluctant to comment on what is obviously a political debate, I am nevertheless duty bound to respond to the letter from Ms O'Bray Smith regarding staffing at Mortdale fire station (Your View, October 21).
The letter regrettably states that a previous correspondent had been "lied to by omission" because he accepted a response provided by Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW).
The letter further stated that Mortdale fire station is being deliberately starved of staff.
All of these claims are based on unwarranted concerns that the Mortdale community is being left unprotected.
The facts are these: Mortdale fire station is crewed by a team of dedicated retained, or on-call firefighters - not by a full-time crew.
It is one of the last suburbs in Sydney to still have a retained fire station.
If alerted to an emergency call simultaneously, fire trucks with full-time crews from Hurstville and Riverwood are able to respond to Mortdale faster than the local retained crew, and well within the FRNSW response time target of 10 minutes.
In reality, if Mortdale fire station is temporarily off-line due to retained firefighters having other commitments, there is no adverse impact on local emergency response coverage.
Throughout NSW the standard staff establishment for a retained fire station with one truck, the same as Mortdale, is 12 firefighters.
At present, Mortdale has 13 firefighters, and two more are being recruited, placing the station in a better position than many others in NSW.
At a point in the past the establishment was increased to 20 to address shortages - this is not a sustainable approach.
Our focus is on ensuring that the dedicated crew members attached to Mortdale fire station are able to maintain availability of a crew of four at all times.
We have a rostering problem, not a staffing or budget problem, and we are working to address it.
I assure local residents that FRNSW is always there for them: 24/7, 365 days of the year.
Greg Mullins, AFSM Commissioner
