United Firefighters Union launches campaign for north-west trench rescue equipment in wake of fatal incident

Firefighters are calling on the state government to dig deep for the north-west following the tragic trench deaths of two men at Delacombe.

United Firefighter Union delegates Cory Woodyatt and Brenton Smith at Lucas Fire Station announcing the UFU's campaign for more regional rescue resources.

The United Firefighters Union has launched a campaign in the lead-up to the state election calling on the government to provide regional Victoria’s professional firefighters better training and equipment to avoid “another tragedy”.

The funding push centres around Fire Rescue Victoria’s trench rescue capabilities, particularly in the state’s north-west, including in Ballarat, Bendigo, and Mildura.

FRV is responsible for responding to trench-related emergencies, such as the fatal 2018 Delacombe incident in which two men died.

In March that year Charlie Howkins, 34, and Jack Brownlee, 21, were killed when the trench they were working in collapsed.

A union campaign flyer urging the state government to provide Fire Rescue Victoria with more rescue equipment. “It’s only a matter of time until another tragedy occurs,” it reads.

Announcing the campaign at Lucas Fire Station on Thursday, union delegate Brenton Smith said FRV firefighters had been advocating for an improved trench rescue response for nearly a decade.

“Almost four years ago we had a tragic trench collapse which resulted in the death of two men,” he said.

“Nothing’s been done since then.

“There are three stations that have trench rescue capability in Victoria, being Warrnambool, Wangaratta and Richmond.

“There’s two trench-rescue-capable vehicles that have been built for a number of years sitting idle and it’s about time that they be deployed somewhere in regional Victoria.”

Trench rescue vehicles carry various tools, timber, and trench-stabilising equipment and are capable of responding to several types of emergencies.

Mr Smith said the two rescue trucks lying unused in Melbourne should be immediately manned – something for which staffing and training were required – and deployed regionally.

He said funding was also needed for the FRV to work out a broader and more precise scheme for filling gaps in its response capabilities - with the construction of extra rescue appliances, for instance.

“There’s numerous sides to the argument,” Mr Smith said.

“The other side seems to say that the capability’s there.

“The people on the ground are saying, ‘Well show us where that is, that training and equipment.’

“You wouldn’t give a pilot a task to travel somewhere with a group of people and not give them a plane to fly with – it’s the same here.”

Firefighters at Lucas Fire Station beside a union campaign poster.

Union delegate Cory Woodyatt said that aside from those in immediate danger during a rescue, the lack of resources also put emergency service workers at risk.

“We’re 2km away from where the trench accident happened on the 21st of March, 2018,” he said.

“This station responded to that event without the equipment, without the appropriate capabilities.

“We were fortunate enough on that day that we had an individual that was working here from another station in the state that was a trench-rescue-qualified individual.

“He was then placed into a situation where he had the training, but not equipment or capability to be able to do anything at all on that day.”

Mr Woodyatt said the matter had been raised with both sides of state politics.

“We are failing the community right now by not having the appropriate equipment, training, and capability in the state,” he said.

“That’s all we want.”

A state government spokeswoman said the deaths of Mr Howkins and Mr Brownlee were “devastating”.

“We know that technical rescue is an important part of the service that our firefighters provide to the community – that’s why we ensured Fire Rescue Victoria continue to have the necessary resources they need for this service,” she said.

“Ballarat is classified as a Technical Rescue station, which means there are specialist staff and rescue equipment on site for immediate use when needed.”