A new emergency services centre with the capacity for an incident control centre if there is a major bushfire in the area is being built in Gingin.
The Gingin Volunteer Fire & Rescue (GVFR) and Gingin South Bushfire Brigade (GSBB) will share the Gingin Emergency Services Centre, which is expected to be finished by April next year.
Emergency Services Minister Reece Whitby said volunteer firefighters in the Gingin area had been in the thick of bushfire fighting responses this year, including the Red Gully and Wooroloo bushfires.
Mr Whitby said the current Gingin facility dated back to the 1970s and the new facility was exactly what was needed.
He said it did not matter if firefighters were volunteer or career they all deserved the same quality equipment and facilities as they did the same job – putting themselves on the line to fight fires.
Fire and Emergency Services commissioner Darren Klemm praised the GVFR and the GSBB for co-locating.
Mr Klemm said the Gingin brigades had also been to Esperance in 2015, Waroona in 2016 and Yanchep in 2019.
Shire of Gingin President Wayne Fewster said the shire was excited about the project and praised the GVFR and the GSBB for the fantastic work they did as volunteers.
Mr Whitby said the $2.2 million centre would be partly funded by the emergency services levy and other government revenue.
He said the Shire of Gingin had donated the land for the centre, which will be able to accommodate six vehicles, equipment rooms, multiple office spaces, a kitchen and multi-purpose training rooms.
A communications room, equipment for intelligence officers and logistics management space for up to 72 personnel will be able to operate from the centre during large-scale emergencies.
The building is designed to cater for future expansion to ensure it continues to meet the needs of the community.
Yanchep News Online asked Mr Klemm if the space would allow for state emergency service personnel like the Two Rocks SES, which shares the Two Rocks Emergency Services Facility with the Two Rocks Volunteer Bushfire Brigade.
Mr Klemm said at this stage the building would only house the Gingin brigades.
He said fire and SES responses were treated differently in local communities with a fire in a home or a bushfire requiring a quick response from not far away whereas SES teams tarping a roof or searching for someone could travel further and wider distances.
In January this year the Red Gully bushfire burnt 10,230ha, then 86 properties were lost in the Wooroloo bushfire in February, which burnt 10,900ha and in December 2019 the Yanchep bushfire destroyed one house and a service station and burnt 12,854ha, including land in the Shire of Gingin.
This article appeared on Yanchep News Online on 23 June 2021.
