Palmerston Regional Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services Complex delayed with theory put forward
A firefighter has put forward a theory to explain why the new Palmerston fire station is a year late. Check out the suspected cause here.
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The Northern Territory Government has been forced to defend a claim a failure with the new building’s internal fire extinguishers is the reason Palmerston Fire Station is almost 12 months behind schedule.
A Territory firefighter who is familiar with the construction said an issue with the facility’s in-built fire extinguishers was behind delays in opening the new building.
She said the government was “embarrassed” by the muck-up and wanted to keep details under wraps.
“It’s not a great look for them but these things happen,” she said.
“They should just come out and own why the station hasn’t opened.
The government denied fire extinguishers were behind the delay but said there was an issue with the alarms.
However, NT News has been told it failed to disclose this when asked for details by the Opposition Country Liberal Party.
A spokesperson for the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics said the bungle was identified in August.
“During the routine occupancy inspection in August, several items were identified for remediation prior to the issuing of the occupancy certificate,” she said.
“This included minor programming issues with the fire alarm system, which have been addressed.
“The occupancy certificate was issued on August 10.”
Final inspection of the facility to confirm completion of other operational remediation issues was due to occur in October.
“Substantially completed buildings go through a rigorous compliance and certification inspection process prior to receiving final sign-off and an occupancy certificate,” the spokesperson said.
“Inspections are undertaken by the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics, the client agency, the contractor and its building certifier, to ensure the infrastructure meets the needs of the client and is ready for occupancy.”
The government had originally hoped to open the new facility in March.
“The Palmerston Regional Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services Complex was substantially completed at the end of the financial year, providing a modern facility for firefighters and emergency services volunteers to service the growing Palmerston and rural communities,” she said.
“The project’s construction timeline has been impacted by a number of factors including Covid-19 lockdowns, material delays and resource availability.”
Work on the Palmerston fire station began in January, 2021.
Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro said the Labor Government had a history of project delivery failure and accused it of a cover-up.
“The Fyles Labor government can’t be trusted to build a shade structure in the middle of Darwin, so we’re not surprised they’ve built a fire station that hasn’t passed its own fire test,” she said.
“The project has been plagued by cost blowouts and delays, and the irony that the final delay for a station opening was failing the fire inspection, speaks volumes about this government’s incompetence.
“They have covered this embarrassment up for too long, and it was only when we submitted written questions that the rumours we heard were confirmed.”
The government did not detail issues that led to a delay in issuing the occupancy certificate. In a response to a written question submitted in September by the Opposition, the government refused to reveal what had caused the delay, saying inspectors had only “identified one matter” that required resolution around the fire station
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