March 5, 2020
Big changes are coming to the Kingaroy Fire and Rescue station with four new permanent firefighter positions being allocated.
The allocation is part of a raft of new firefighter positions across Queensland announced by the State Government on Thursday.
Kingaroy fire station currently operates on a model where there is a full-time Station Officer, Bruce Groer, plus 18 auxiliary firefighters.
When a Triple 0 call comes in to the central operations centre, an automated despatch system sends text messages to auxiliaries attached to the Kingaroy Station to respond.
Inspector Archie Andrews, who was recently appointed to the Kingaroy Command, said Kingaroy was among the “top five or 10” busiest auxiliary stations in Queensland.
The standard was usually 10 auxiliaries per station but Kingaroy had 18 because of the high callout rate.
The State Government upgrade will move Kingaroy to a five-day, permanent day shift model plus auxiliaries.
Insp Andrews said the full-time staff would also be kept busy doing fire safety inspections as well as maintaining equipment.
He said the permanent positions were probably overdue in light of the type of industry which operates in the Kingaroy area, such as Swickers.
“But that is taking absolutely nothing away from the auxiliaries. They are very competent and very experienced people because they have been doing so many calls,” he said.
Fire and Emergency Services Minister Craig Crawford said the increases in permanent firefighter numbers was part of the State Government’s commitment to continue providing fire and emergency services to Queensland communities in line with their risk profile.
“We made a commitment before the last election to deliver 100 new Fire and Rescue firefighters and we are on track to do just that,” he said.
“Ninety-one roles have now been allocated and the remaining nine roles will be allocated to identified stations by June.”
The allocated permanent roles are expected to be on shift no later than November.
Insp Andrews said he would discussing the new staffing model for the Kingaroy station with North Coast Region Assistant Commissioner Gary McCormack later this month.
