Safety fears held over move to cut firefighters at Adelaide Airport

“Grave concerns” are held for passengers and staff at Adelaide Airport amid moves to cut rescue and firefighting personnel.

A Singapore Airlines welcomed by a fire truck at Adelaide Airport … there are concerns over moves to cut rescue and firefighting personnel.

“Grave concerns” are held for passengers and staff at Adelaide Airport amid moves to cut rescue and firefighting personnel.

Airservices Australia is reviewing staffing numbers within its Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting team at the airport.

At present, an ARFF crew — comprising one officer and four firefighters — is on duty at the airport 24 hours a day, seven days a week to respond to emergencies.

However the United Firefighters Union of Australia and Federal Member for Hindmarsh Steve Georganas say Airservices Australia is proposing to reduce crew numbers to one officer and two firefighters during the overnight curfew period from 11pm to 6am.

They say they have “grave concerns” about the proposal.

Federal Member for Hindmarsh Steve Georganas.

While the curfew prevents large passenger planes from landing at the airport, freighters and medical planes, carrying passengers, are permitted to fly in and out.

Airport staff and business employees also continue to work at the airport overnight.

The Union and Mr Georganas say Airservices Australia, which is owned by the Federal Government, has been provided with funding to maintain the existing ARFF arrangement but has decided to “put savings before safety” by flagging cuts to crew numbers.

They say the mooted staffing cut would cripple the crew’s ability to assist in aircraft incidents on the runway; successfully enter any area of the airport to perform a rescue; or attack a structural fire, including at the airport’s fuel facility, which holds more than three million litres of aviation fuel.

“Any reduction in staffing will impact of the ARFF’s ability to intervene at an emergency,” UFU secretary Peter Marshall said.

“Airservices must acknowledge the growth at Adelaide Airport and provide a safe level of staffing and resources to meet customer expectations in line with other providers.

“The proactive and strategic direction of Airservices should be to increase the staffing to a crew of two officers and four firefighters, using two vehicles, to support the inherently high risks involved.”

Mr Marshall asked: “Can the Adelaide community really afford to risk losing their only passenger terminal because Airservices’ serious lack of judgement?”.

Mr Georganas described the move as a “cost-cutting exercise”.

“With the planned extension of the terminal, construction of an airport hotel and a multitude of major upgrades on the aerodrome, it seems short-sighted to reduce fire and rescue coverage,” he said.

“The airport remains very active overnight when the curfew is in operation — It would be disasterous for cost-cutting of this nature to result in people getting hurt in times of need.”

An Airservices Australia spokeswoman confirmed the organisation was reviewing Adelaide’s ARFF’s crew arrangements.

“A review of the roster at Adelaide is underway, and has found that overnight during the curfew, when there are no scheduled passenger aircraft movements, rostered staffing is above the required number,” she said.

“This review will determine the appropriate number of staff required in line with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority-approved level of service and to safely respond to aircraft and other emergency situations.”