UPDATE: Sutherland Shire bushfire brigades will get extra help.
Heathcote MP Lee Evans said Sutherland fire control centre would receive a communications upgrade, Waterfall fire station would be extended, Maianbar brigade would get a new fire truck, and there would be a new logistics vehicle for the Engadine brigade.
Holsworhy MP Melanie Gibbons said the Sandy Point brigade would receive a new truck,and work would start next year on a new station.
The initiatives were revealed when Minister for Emergency Services David Elliott visited the new Menai Rural Fire Service station to announce the Hercules C130 large air tanker Thor would remain in NSW until mid-January because of a predicted challenging bushfire season.
Mr Elliott said the state government had extended Thor’s contract for an additional six weeks, complementing the DC 10 very large air tanker Southern Belle.
Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said the Bureau of Meteorology predicted El Niño would present hotter and drier than average conditions in NSW.
"It is reassuring to have these aircraft at our disposal, at least until the end of January when their need will be reassessed,” he said.
Nov 25: Peter Coleman finds it hard believe the new Menai Bushfire Brigade station is a reality, and has been completed just in time for what is expected to be a challenging summer.
"I joined in 1989 and, for the last 20 years, I have been hearing we are getting a new station," the brigade captain said.
"Finally, it's here."
On Sunday , volunteer firefighters moved into the $1 million Rural Fire Service facility in Old Illawarra Road, Barden Ridge, following its official opening the previous weekend.
It is far more spacious and better equipped than the building in Menai Road, Menai, from where the brigade has operated since 1955.
"The old station was well past it's 'use-by' date," Mr Coleman said.
"It was updated in the late 1960s, but remained pretty much the same since then.
"Fire trucks have grown considerably in size since then.
"We just managed to squeeze our two trucks into the old station, with about an inch to spare on each side and at the back.
"It had a small kitchen-meeting area, and the toilets were out the back."
Mr Coleman said the new facility had ample space around the trucks, a training-meeting room, large kitchen, office and internal toilets and locker rooms.
He thanked the community for its "superb" support of fund-raising efforts over the last 18 months.
While the Rural Fire Service and Sutherland Shire Council shared the major cost, the brigade had to fit out the station with items such as audio visual equipment, kitchen appliances and furniture.
"We raised raised $50,000 through barbecues and Christmas Santa runs, with the help of Club Menai and Ray White Real Estate," he said.
Deputy Sutherland Shire fire controller Scott Deller said a feature of the new station was drive-through bays for the two category one, 3800 litre capacity fire trucks, which made for greater efficiency.
There was also space for a 4WD personnel carrier.
Mr Deller said the old station could serve a new role, with the council negotiating a lease with land owner Telstra for the the site to become a sub-unit of the NSW State Emergency Service.
Veteran calls building a 'fire hut'
For veteran firefighter Robert ‘‘Bob’’ Rossini (pictured above), the new building is not a station, but a ‘‘fire hut’’.
That’s the term that was used when he joined the Menai brigade in 1961 at the age of 23 and, despite ‘‘some funny looks I get from some of the young blokes,’’ that’s what he still calls it.
Mr Rossini, a deputy captain, was among 41 members of shire brigades presented with long-service medals and national medals at the official opening.
He received a fourth clasp to his long-service medal in recognition of 54 years of service.
Menai brigade, which was formed in 1940, has 53 members and seven recruits joined in the last 12 months.
STATION THE LATEST
The station was officially opened by NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons, Heathcote MP Lee Evans and Sutherland Shire mayor Carmelo Pesce.
Cr Pesce said the station was in a better location, offered faster response times and superior operational functions and amenities.
He said it was the latest in a program, which had also seen Engadine, Illawong, Kurnell, Bundeena, Waterfall, Maianbar, Illawong, Woronora and Heathcote stations rebuilt or upgraded.
Sandy Point and Grays Point stations had been identified for upgrading, he said.
Are you pleased to see the fire station project completed?
