THE grounding of Forest Fire Management Victoria’s entire fleet of 290 Mercedes G-Wagens and 59 Unimogs has crippled fire season planning just weeks before the declared fire danger period for South Gippsland and Bass Coast.
A contingency fleet of Landcruiser vehicles, fire tankers and bulldozers will be called into service after structural issues were detected in the UniMogs and cracking in the chassis of G-Wagens.
As a result, the entire G-Wagen and Unimog fleet has been pulled off the road indefinitely, amid serious safety concerns just weeks before the fire season.
Launched in 2017 under Labor’s $32 million state-of-the-art upgrade, the G-Wagens and Unimogs were touted as world-class firefighting assets for rapid response and access to remote terrain.
Leader of The Nationals and Shadow Minister for Emergency Services, Danny O’Brien, called on Premier Allan to reveal how many vehicles are affected, and what contingencies are in place to protect communities.
“Labor promised Victorians a state-of-the-art firefighting fleet, but eight years later has delivered a world-class failure. Victorians deserve answers on how this failure was allowed to happen and what steps will be taken to ensure community safety.”
Shadow Minister for Public Land Management Melina Bath slammed the Allan Labor Government for leaving regional Victoria dangerously exposed ahead of a high-risk fire season.
“Grounding Victoria’s frontline fleet weeks before fire season is an unacceptable failure given nearly 40 per cent of the state is public land,” said Ms Bath.
“Labor’s flawed bushfire policy, Safer Together has delivered just 1.6 per cent of land treated for fuel reduction annually since 2015, and the government routinely fails to meet its own fuel-driven risk targets.
“At a time when we need every piece of equipment and personnel working to reduce risk, it is our CFA volunteers who are being asked to carry the load with ageing equipment and limited resources.”
The CFA said its members are ready to protect the Victorian community this coming fire season and have been working closely with its Victorian emergency service partners.
“CFA is closely monitoring many bushland areas across the state, in particular West and East Gippsland, due to underlying rainfall deficits in these areas,” a CFA spokesperson said after the FFMVic announcement last week.
“Due to the current dry conditions and high fuel loads, if an ignition occurred on a hot, windy day, fire could carry readily.
“Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic) has been keeping CFA informed of the progress of the current fleet repairs and have assisted FFMV with the provision of fire vehicles that were due to go to disposal.“
“The safety of our firefighters is paramount, that’s why regular safety inspections of vehicles and equipment are so important, a Victorian Government spokesperson stated on Friday.
“FFMVic has brought online additional vehicles to continue undertaking critical bushfire season preparations and respond to bushfire emergencies.
“These repairs are being fast-tracked over the next two months.”
FFMVic is also working on agreements to secure additional emergency response vehicles from other states if required.