Palmo fire station six months from completion, after wet season
A new fire and emergency services precinct in Palmerston will be finished by the end of the wet season.
Northern Territory
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PALMERSTON will have to get through one more cyclone season before its new $25m fire and emergency services complex will be opened to the public.
It comes as the NT Emergency Service puts the call out for volunteers ahead of the Territory’s looming cyclone season.
Police, Fire and Emergency Service Minister Nicole Manison said the new Palmerston Fire Station and Emergency Services Centre was almost 50 per cent complete.
The station will be operational in March 2022, almost two years after local company C&R was awarded its construction tender in July 2020.
The new facility, located near the corner of Howard Springs Rd and the Stuart Hwy, will also include facilities for the emergency and rescue services to better respond to cyclones.
Construction of the facility has created 250 new jobs.
Ms Manison said the new Fire Station would also help the region better respond to extreme fire weather.
“(Palmerston) do have some completely outdated facilities, so we made the decision to make sure that we had a modern fire station, a modern Emergency Services Center, to make sure that the people are Palmerston and the rural area, are well served into the future,” she said.
Upgrades to the nearby traffic signals on Howard Springs Rd are now 80 per cent complete, and the government promise the new facility will allow fire crews to more quickly respond to calls for help in Palmerston and the rural area.
It will also have more capacity to house additional fire crews during high fire danger days.
NT chief fire officer Mark Spain said crews were “looking forward” to moving into the new facility, with the old Palmerston Fire Station having been constructed in 1983.
“What this particular site will allow us to do is actually get out and prepare for the oncoming dry season for 2022,” Mr Spain said.
Ms Manison used the unveiling to put the call out for more volunteers to join the NT Emergency Service.
Crews from the service respond to floods, severe storms, earthquakes and cyclones.
“We need more volunteers to put their hands up especially going into the cyclone season,” Ms Manison said.
The Northern Territory’s cyclone season runs from November to April.
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