Fire and emergency crews in the City of Gosnells are spending their first fire season operating from a new Emergency Operations Centre in Beckenham, in Perth’s southeast.
The $4.2 million facility – officially opened in October 2016 by the City’s Mayor Olwen Searle and WA Emergency Services Minister Joe Francis – is now home to the Gosnells Bush Fire Brigade and Gosnells State Emergency Service (SES), including around 90 volunteers.
Mayor Searle said the high-tech facility would greatly enhance the response to, and ongoing management of, local emergency and rescue operations.
“The City’s fire and SES crews attend more than 150 incidents each year, including bush and structural fires, flooding, storm damage, cliff rescues and land searches in our region and beyond,” the Mayor said.
“Our new Emergency Operations Centre will not only provide them with a much-improved base but greater capabilities in terms of emergency coordination, communication and ultimately, response times.”
At the opening, Mayor Searle thanked the State Government for its $1.375 million capital grant to part-fund the building cost.
“I am very pleased that the City of Gosnells has been able to fund the remainder of this project, which was designed in close consultation with the volunteers who will use this wonderful facility.”
The Centre also has the capability to function as a Level 3 Incident Control Centre for use by the City and other emergency services, should the need arise. It is also likely to become a hub for regional deployments for emergency services.
The new Centre replaces the City’s former facility in Maddington, which was more than 30 years old and was so over-crowed that the side mirrors on the fire trucks needed to be folded to fit them in the garage.
In contrast, there are now five drive-through bays each for the Bush Fire Brigade and SES units, separate offices and storage areas, and large common-use areas including a training room, outdoor area, kitchen and bathroom facilities.
There are also dedicated Operations and Communications rooms, a vehicle wash down area and specialised training facilities to enable fire and rescue drills, as well as outdoor lighting for night training.
Being located just off the Kenwick Link also gives crews easier access to Roe Highway, which connects to major roads and the fire-prone Perth hills.
