High-rise residents at risk

Bunbury firefighters fear the community’s safety is being compromised because they do not have any equipment capable of reaching people above two storeys.

There are three specialist aerial appliances in the State which can reach up to 30m, but all are in Perth.

United Fire Fighters Union of WA president Graeme Geer said regional centres with growing numbers of highrise building such as Bunbury had been overlooked.

‘‘Places like Bunbury and Mandurah that have high-rise buildings should have an aerial appliance to make sure we can rescue people if anything unfortunate happens in those buildings,’’ Mr Geer said.

‘‘These constructions present specific hazards for firefighters and they need aerial appliances.’’

The green light for a proposed development at the old St John of God Hospital site could see two sevenstorey and one eight-storey apartment towers added to the city’s growing number of high-rise buildings.

A Fire and Emergency Services Authority spokeswoman said FESA had begun a review of aerial appliances in country areas across the State to determine whether there was a need for them in country areas.

A fourth appliance will be operational by the end of the year, but its destination has not been revealed.

Silos resident Peter Krikke lives on the sixth storey of stage three of the development and said he would like to know he could be reached by rescuers if he was unable to access the fire escape.

‘‘I wouldn’t be that keen on jumping from six floors,’’ he said.

‘‘The way Bunbury’s growing it’s going to have more and more high-rise and there’s probably going to be a lot of people quite dependant on some sort of a high-rise rescue platform.’’

Bunbury Fire Station officer Larry Friend said the situation risked the lives of firefighters as well as the residents they protected.

‘‘There’s two things that firies consider the most and one is the safety of the public and secondly their own safety,’’ Mr Friend said.

‘‘It would certainly be an advantage to have an aerial appliance in Bunbury, what it would do is actually provide a safer environment for residents and also for firefighters.’’