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HOPES that Croydon’s long-awaited $3.2 million fire station would open soon were dashed after a disastrous test of new traffic safety measures.
United Firefighters Union industrial officer Greg Pargeter said about 20 Croydon fire officers watched in disbelief as a car and truck ran a red light and nearly collided with a fire truck despite new warning signals on Thursday, January 16.
“We just all came away shaking our heads,” Mr Pargeter said.
Senior Metropolitan Fire Brigade staff could not be reached to confirm Mr Pargeter’s account, but emails from two fire officers backed the description of the near crash.
He said the MFB was considering building an alternative rear exit bay at the station at the corner of Dorset and Mt Dandenong roads.
Meanwhile, a traffic expert has advised against using one of the station’s three exit bays.
Traffic consultant John Piper Traffic has advised the MFB to use the station’s bay 1 as a spare due to poor sight-lines.
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Mr Pargeter said that advice would render the new station no more effective than the existing one, which only has two bays.
“Having spent $3.2 million they’re no better off in terms of their emergency response capability,” he said.
Mr Pargeter said the MFB wanted fire trucks to use emergency lights whenever exiting the station, even for routine trips like visiting schools for safety talks.
But he said it was against the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Act to use their lights unless responding to an alarm of fire.
MFB spokeswoman Christina Bucci said the MFB had devised “safe measures for exiting the station”.
But she conceded that the dispute remained unresolved.
MFB chief fire officer Tony Murphy had said previously that firefighters were likely to move into the station early this month (Maroondah Leader, January 6). |
