Donations help firefighters secure technology boost

Granite Belt brigades will benefit from an upgrade that will help them save lives on the frontline.

HELPING HAND: Rural Fire Brigade Group Officer Pedro Curr said the donation would be put towards improving communication equipment in trucks.

STANTHORPE’S rural fire brigades will be well equipped for upcoming bushfire seasons with communication equipment in trucks set to be upgraded.

Mobile phone boosters are expected to be installed in rural fire brigade trucks across the Granite Belt later this year.

Stanthorpe group officer Pedro Curr said the boosters would be beneficial in parts of the region with patchy reception.

“These things will boost the signal, so it’ll give us better coverage,” Mr Curr said.

“Our trucks are pretty up to scratch; this will be the biggest help this time.”

The upgrade to the region’s trucks comes after a $7,397.50 donation was made from Scouts Queensland.

Mr Curr said the donation was one of the last the region’s fire brigades were expecting, following the devastating bushfire season last year.

“We had some good donations over that period, there’s generous people around,” he said.

“We didn’t expect to get what we did; we don’t go asking for it.

“We just plod along, no different to any other day.”

Glen Aplin rural fire service first officer Ian Townsend said the technology boost would be welcomed by officers across the region.

“It just makes things easier for us to handle; we can get onto people directly rather than having to go through different radio channels,” Mr Townsend said.

“We’re always trying different things that work better for us.”

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