The base for the Northern Tablelands fire control centre is on the verge of having a new home in Glen Innes.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The headquarters, which services three Local Government Areas including Tenterfield, Inverell and Glen Innes, are currently located in an old building on Bourke Street, Glen Innes.
But for many years the building has failed to accommodate the team, Zone Commander Chris Wallbridge said.
“It’s too small as we now have seven full-time staff and a couple of fuel crews,” he said. “We’ve got 45 brigades across the team made up of around 1450 volunteers in the organisation.”
After sifting through around 17 possible locations, including Inverell, it was proposed that the new building be situated on Lambeth Street.
Glen Innes mayor Steve Toms said the Lambeth Street modification option was the best on the table. “The bottom line is this option has strong moral and financial support,” Mr Toms said.
“The available facilities are totally inadequate, and our council is hoping we can resolve this matter now.”
Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall met with Mr Toms and Mr Wallbridge in Glen Innes on Wednesday to review progress.
The available facilities are totally inadequate, and our council is hoping we can resolve this matter now.
- Glen Innes mayor Steve Toms
“Those talks reiterated the need and support for a push to get things moving quickly,” Mr Marshall said.
“That’s the message I’m taking to the Minister for Emergency Services David Elliott and NSW RFS management.
“The council has budgeted for a start on a new facility, and they’re 100 per cent behind this project.
“Not just for the jobs it will create but for the services they will provide and the sense of security and safety it will afford for landowners and residents in the event of bushfires.
“This option would involve modifying those commercial structures to house the fire control centre and support services and later on in another stage, the construction of a new Glen Innes Rural Fire Brigade station at the same site.”
The RFS have allocated preliminary funding for the new facility and budgeted for a start on the project in 2017.