Footscray residents will attend an emergency community meeting at the Droop Street Footscray Fire Station on Thursday (January 15, 2009) to discuss the Metropolitan Fire Brigade's (MFB) mismanaged refurbishment of the Fire Station.

"Residents have been telling us that they want a fire station that improves their protection, not compromises it," says Peter Marshall, Victoria Branch Secretary of the United Firefighters Union. "They've been hearing from local firefighters about the problems caused by the MFB managed renovation of the Droop Street station. Thursday's community meeting will give residents a comprehensive briefing about what's wrong and how we can fix it. I urge all local residents to attend and find out the full story "

The meeting will be held at the Footcray Fire Station, 69 Droop St, and will begin at 7.30 pm.

"The MFB is attempting to force Footscray firefighters to move back in to the station," says Peter Marshall. "This is despite firefighters having serious concerns about the potential dangers of the place that could result in injury to either the firefighters or indeed a member of the community."

Ladder no longer
To serve the community effectively, the Footscray Fire Station must be able to support a 24 hour operation, with modern equipment on hand that can deal effectively with emergencies in the densely populated, built-up municipality.

"However, MFB management didn't get the rear driveway specs right," says Peter Marshall. "So now the fire station's ariel appliance, that's its ladder platform truck, can't safely drive into the station. That means it will have to be relocated to another fire station 11 km away. Given the traffic gridlock in the western suburbs, this will push out response times for emergencies at the Western and General Hospital or other medium and high rise buildings in the area."

List grows longer
This is just one of the problems caused by the refurbishment that will make life much more difficult for Footscray's firefighters and create the potential for the community's safety to be compromised in an emergency. Others include:
- firefighters have been moved from the ground to the third floor of the building; with no lift in the building, firefighters will now have to scramble down three flights of stairs, causing delays in their response to fires and other incidents,
- not enough space to provide adequate facilities for the station's firefighters,
- no disability access to the community areas within the fire station, and
- breaches of the MFB's own ‘Design and Delivery Manual for New and Refurbished Fire Stations’, issued in 2005.

Problems exposed
"Footscray's firefighters need the community's help," says Peter Marshall. "This Thursday's meeting is a chance for residents to come to the station and see the problems first hand. It will also be an opportunity to send a message to MFB management that their sloppy oversight of renovations at a key local facility that protects the community is just not acceptable."