As reported in the Yarrawonga Chronicle on April 17, the 31-year-old station has not kept up with a growing town and has had to forego equipment acquisitions – including a new pumper and tanker - because it cannot house appliances properly.
It does not have the equipment to fight three-storey fires, due to the lack of storage, and it recently dipped into its own account for $25,000 to fund changeroom upgrades. But it still does not have toilets or showers, the MP said.
“The volunteers at Yarrawonga Fire Brigade provide an outstanding service to their community,” Ms Lovell said. “They need a new, larger fire station that can house the latest fire-fighting equipment and has modern facilities to support the hard-working volunteers.”
Ms Lovell said the station has been atop the Shepparton-centred District 22 priority building list for “many years” and urged the Labor Government to fund the project in this month’s budget saying it had been “ignoring Yarrawonga”.
The brigade is now delivering Fire Medical Response and needs a station that will support volunteers with safe and modern facilities, she added.
Station first lieutenant Simon Crawford said last month the “ideal solution” would be a new station with the correct amenities, but that there were no signs of that on the horizon.
“It sits where it sits with the CFA – they tell us where on a priority list, but we’ve heard nothing at all,” he said. “…(we) can’t dwell on what you should have and could have, we make it work from what we’ve got.”
