State Member for Wallsend, Ms Sonia Hornery MP, has called on the NSW Emergency Services Minister to end the continual rolling closure of Fire & Rescue NSW Stations, such as Minmi Fire Station, due to staffing shortages.
Ms Hornery has raised concerns that the continual taking of fire stations offline, like Minmi Fire Station, puts the growing communities of Minmi, Fletcher and Black Hill at risk.
This is a simple cost cutting exercise that has major risks for firefighter and community safety.
Ms Hornery moved a Notice of Motion in Parliament this week, calling on the Minister to fix critical station understaffing and underfunding and to stop Fire & Rescue NSW from taking Minmi Fire Station offline.
“For the last nine months, I have been calling on the NSW Government to fix the staffing shortages at Minmi Fire Station that have seen it taken offline a number of times,” Ms Hornery said.
“Instead of working to fix the problem, or simply allowing the Station to bring in supplementary staff from another Station, the NSW Government solution is just to close it for a period of time.
“Taking any fire station offline deprives a local community of a critical emergency response, leaving any response up to fire stations from further away and reducing the number of fire trucks at any incident.
“The population in the Wallsend electorate is growing at a rapid rate every single year. That means more people, more houses, and more vehicles on the roads.
“The NSW Government should be turning its mind to increasing fire services to serve this increasing population, but instead, they want to shut local fire stations down to save money.
“In 2022 and in a so-called modern fire service, this is completely unacceptable.
“The staff at Minmi deserve the respect of having their crewing at a safe number of four at all times, so that they can protect their community and do their job.
“The community deserves their fire trucks to remain online. They pay their taxes, they pay their Emergency Services Levy through their insurances and their rate notices, and to deprive them of their fire protection, despite that, would be an insult.
“I am calling on the Minister to urgently find a permanent solution to prevent Fire & Rescue NSW from taking Minmi Fire Station offline,” said Ms Hornery.