By Mikayla van Loon
The Mooroolbark CFA’s fleet of vehicles has been bolstered thanks to the generosity of Community Bank Mooroolbark and the broader community.
Welcoming a forward control vehicle in a more compact design, brigade captain Mark Drennan said it would enable a quicker response time and better safety procedures.
“It’s somewhere for our ops to be run straight out of and our incident controller can, on the bigger incidents, draw up a mud map and for the crews to understand where they’re going and what sectors are what and what’s happening at the incident,” he said.
“It’ll serve a massive purpose from not only Mooroolbark but it’s also a strike team vehicle, so in the summertime it could be deployed anywhere in the state controlling five tankers.”
Replacing a truck, Mr Drennan said this new four wheel drive style vehicle would be able to manoeuvre suburban streets better, as well as access hard to reach places whether in the Dandenong Ranges or somewhere across the state.
First lieutenant Daniel King said the advances in technology and design has brought the brigade and the CFA ahead in vehicle composition.
“The new vehicle takes over the old support vehicle that was a truck but they serve very similar purposes,” he said.
“But with the changes in technology and equipment that vehicle can service 90 per cent of the same job that the support vehicle did.”
With retractable tables, whiteboards, oxygen kits, first aid, in-built radios and electric vehicle isolation equipment to turn off the power in an EV, the only local brigade to have that kind of technology, the brigade has been able to fit out the vehicle completely.
This would not have been possible without the commitment of the Community Bank to contribute $15,000 every year for five years to the purchasing of the vehicle, as well as additional grants to purchase the appropriate equipment.
The total $75,000 was matched by the brigade through fundraising efforts, interrupted and delayed slightly by the pandemic, taking an extra three years to actually get possession of the vehicle.
Community Bank Mooroolbark branch manager Ashley Wijey said 80 per cent of the profits the bank makes goes straight back into the community.
“The community banks were set up predominantly to help communities prosper. That’s the main objective. So we believe in investing back into the community, not profiteering from it,” he said.
“So when we receive a request on application, that’s the first thing we look at, is this going to benefit the community? As a result, predominantly the organisations that we support are not for profits. We’ve given back over $3.6 million over the last 21 years.”
An additional contribution of $140,000 via the Volunteer Emergency Services Equipment Program has also supported Mooroolbark CFA in purchasing an ultra light tanker, which should arrive later this year.
Mr Drennan said as a smaller water carrying vehicle, it will function as a key response tanker for train line fires and other fires in tight bushland.
“It’s a smaller vehicle to get around the fire tracks in the Dandenongs and not only this area, but along the railway line where our big trucks can’t get into,” he said.
“It’ll be utilised as a whole in District 13 in what’s called a slip on taskforce. So there’s only four of those appliances in District 13. This will give us the fifth. At the moment, they’ve got a roll in fifth, and it’s not really a vehicle that’s dedicated to that strike team.
“So now that fills a district void, which then goes all across the state so it doesn’t just help us here but it helps get into those tight forest areas around the state.”
The smaller firefighting truck also allows any person with a standard licence to respond, not requiring a heavy vehicle licence like the tankers, meaning response times can improve.
Mr Drennan said if the brigade had to self fund even just one of the new vehicles by hosting barbecue fundraisers or other events it would have taken 12 years and countless extra hours of volunteer resources to achieve the $125,000 cost.
The maintenance costs on the forward control vehicle, however, will be brigade funded, meaning fundraisers will still be required to keep the vehicle running well and efficiently.
Mr Wijey said being able to support Mooroolbark CFA and learning of the dedication volunteer members put in to fundraise each year made the five year funding commitment all the more worthwhile.
“We’re not making a huge life saving impact like these guys do but in a small way we’re supporting them,” he said.
