United Firefighters Union takes to Ballarat billboard to push for better trench rescue resources

Union member s say there’s a shocking lack of resources to respond to trench emergencies in Ballarat four years after a double fatality identified alarming shortcomings.

There is, on average, fewer than one Ballarat firefighter on duty at any given time capable of responding to a trench emergency, union members say.

In a continuation of its campaign for more trench rescue equipment in the state’s northwest, the United Firefighters Union revealed a billboard in Ballarat on Tuesday advertising the region’s lack of resources.

UFU members are seeking the deployment of a heavy technical rescue truck, also known as a transporter, to Ballarat, along with the government-funded training of 10 firefighters to operate it sufficiently.

The truck, which is capable of steep, high angle, confined space and trench rescues, was constructed in 2014 for roughly $1 million and now sits in Melbourne.

It is one of two such un-deployed rescue vehicles.

Lucas Fire Station senior station officer Luke Shearer.

“They’ve never responded to a rescue call and just sit down there gathering dust,”

Lucas Fire Station senior station officer Luke Shearer said.

“We’re calling on the government to crew these trucks and deploy them in Victoria, and especially put one in Ballarat.”

Mr Shearer called the situation “completely unacceptable” and said that if the fatal Delacombe trench collapse in March 2018 were to occur again, local crews would not have the proper resources to respond.

The firefighters’ union is on record in favour of a coronial inquest into that incident, which killed Charlie Howkins and Jack Brownlee.

The UFU billboard in Ballarat.

The three vehicles capable of helping during trench rescues are in Richmond, Warrnambool and Wangaratta – at least two hours from Ballarat.

“Ballarat is one of the largest inland cities in Australia and outside metropolitan Melbourne and Geelong, it’s got the largest urban growth in Victoria,” Mr Shearer said.

“At any one day there’s over 150 excavators operating in the Ballarat region, and we don’t have the capability to respond to an incident”.

Fire Rescue Victoria has in Ballarat a technical rescue vehicle, a hazardous material truck, a ladder platform, and three pumper appliances.

The Ballarat City Fire Station also has a Ford Ranger with roping gear for steep or high angle rescues.

A state government spokesman reiterated comments made earlier in response to the UFU campaign that “specialist staff and rescue equipment [are] on site for immediate use when needed”.

Mr Shearer said the sentiment was “simply incorrect”.

“They don’t have the equipment on them that would support a trench rescue,” he said.

“There’s no timber on any of those trucks, and the first thing you do at a trench rescue is put down walkboards to support the edge of the trench so there’s no further collapse and it distributes the weight.”