The Victorian Government investment supports CFA’s Elevated Seasonal Response Initiative, which ran for the first time last year.
CFA chief officer Jason Heffernan said the CFA sought the targeted funding from the Victorian Government following predictions of a record-breaking El Niño this fire season.
“We’re expecting another high-risk fire season this summer, so this investment is focused on strengthening CFA’s ability to prepare for, respond to and recover from increasingly frequent and severe emergency events,” Mr Heffernan said.
“This initiative builds on last year’s funding to establish not only vital water supply but also assist with a range of factors including fuel supply, hazard reduction, asset protection, recovery operations, catering arrangements and much more.”
The funding will support 22 bulk water operational bases across Victoria, 10 100,000-litre water storage tanks installed in strategic locations, four 26,000-litre open-top mobile water modules and two 16,000-litre closed-top mobile water modules.
It also includes the delivery of three 26,000-litre bulk water semi-trailers, two 5000-litre diesel transport vehicles and five hook-lift trucks for rapid deployment of the closed and open-top mobile water modules.
“These measures will ultimately improve operational readiness, increase community protection, support firefighter safety and wellbeing, and strengthen CFA’s capability to respond to emergencies during periods of heightened fire danger,” Mr Heffernan said.
“We have committed a large portion of the funding towards the mobile bulk water carriers, which will dramatically reduce the time taken by firefighters to search for and collect water during firefighting operations.
“The water assets will also support operational response arrangements, staging areas and reduce the use of critical drinking water supplies of the community.”
Last year, 19 contracted bulk water bases were operational across Victoria, bulk water carriers were activated for 44 days over a 98-day period, more than 1353 operation hours were logged by bulk water carriers and 100,000 litres worth of water storage tanks were installed across 10 locations.
Seymour was the most deployed bulk-water resource, being deployed 11 times.
