By YASEMIN TALAT
FIRE crews from all over Australia and New Zealand have come to Altona to see the Department of Environment and Primary Industries new fleet of concept fire-fighting vehicles.
The fire-fighting vehicles are the latest arsenal in fighting bushfires and carrying out planned burns and showcase new technology for water pumping and fire-fighter safety.
DEPI project manager Hanut Dodd said the concept vehicles had been active during the fires this summer.
“The new equipment fitted to the vehicles has definitely proved its worth,” he said.
“The vehicles were called in to help at the Grampians bushfire earlier this year with both asset protection and to fight the fire burning in the National Park.”
The vehicles have been tested around the state to fine tune the designs.
“We need to make sure these vehicles we have developed can go where our fire-fighters need them to which is in some of the most fire-prone bush and forests in the world,” Mr Dodd said.
“One of the key improvements that stood out was the high pressure, low water-use hose which allowed crews to black-out three times the area with one tank of water the previous designs enabled,” he said.
The fleet of concept vehicles is made up of various designs for single cab and dual cab chassis, light, ultra-light and heavy tankers.
Other improvements that have been incorporated include innovative emergency light systems, easier to use hose reels, GPS mapping and tracking.
Mr Dodd hopes this time next year the first fleets will come off the production line.
