Emergency service leaders and the ACT government have welcomed the opening of a new $12 million ambulance and fire and rescue station at Charnwood, designed to service the growing community of West Belconnen.
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Police and Emergency Services minister Simon Corbell said the state-of-the-art shared facility would see better cooperation between the services and provided value for taxpayers money.
“Strategically locating emergency facilities, to better serve the needs of the community, will save more lives, property and the environment," Mr Corbell said.
The individual services will retain separate accommodation, amenity and changing areas within the facility, due in part to logistics and industrial agreements.
Mr Corbell said the facility had been designed in consultation with frontline staff and sharing of all facilities had not been considered.
"We recognise that fire and ambulance work in different ways and often have different arrangements in terms of the way they accommodate themselves when in station," he said.
"Having those discreet places for fire to use and for the ambulance personnel to use is I think the right way to go but still have common shared facilities like the gymnasium, around vehicle accommodation and other logistical arrangements, I think is a very smart way to go about building the stations of the future."
"For example, a fire platoon will include four or five people at any one time while ambulance paramedics work in pairs."
Designs for the facility, at Lhotsky Street and Charnwood Place, will be reused for future shared developments in the ACT.
The environmentally friendly building utilises rainwater harvesting, in-slab heating and cooling, solar power supply and energy saving technology.
"Many of our ambulance and fire stations are getting quiet old and so the level of facilities available to the fire-fighters and ambulance paramedics is not up to the standards that they should see," Mr Corbell told jounalists.
"The station relocation program is all about getting fire and emergency service stations in the right locations as our city increases. Many of the locations where our existing stations are now are not really suited to meet the needs of a growing city."
A public open day will take place at the site on Saturday.
Mr Corbell was joined by Emergency Services Agency commissioner Dominic Lane for the unveiling.
Commissioner Lane said ACT Fire and Rescue crews were currently assisting in the New South Wales bushfire emergency and were expected to stay in affected areas into next week.
"On Thursday evening they responded immediately to the Blue Mountains and the Winmalee area and were involved late into Thursday evening and early Friday morning in back burning operations," he said.
"At this stage, we’ve committed to five days with that particular crew but of course if New South Wales requests additional resources we will try to accommodate that."