New road crash rescue gear worth $150,000 will allow the Mount Beauty Fire Brigade to more quickly and easily help people trapped in cars.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Six tools, including four that are battery-powered, were delivered by CFA's specialist response officer Rick Owen on Monday.
Brigade captain Rob O'Connor said the addition would enable a faster response in many cases.
"We won't have to run hydraulic hoses; we can just take the tool we need and go do the job," he said.
"If we have a rope rescue going we don't need the extra confusion of all those hoses.
"We're updating gear continually - when the earlier model Commodores and Falcons came out, they had a special sort of steel put in as a roll-cage.
"We had an accident with a Falcon where we were trying to cut the car and our tools couldn't do it.
"We got new tools from there, and as the vehicles are evolving, the rescue equipment has to evolve as well."
Mr Owen said the tools were among 43 purchased across the state.
"The TAC fund a lot of our road rescue program," he said.
"We changed our budgeting this year, which allowed us to buy more gear.
"Mount Beauty are probably one of the four brigades around the state who have now got this cache of gear as part of this roll-out.
"They can load up a four-wheel-drive and disappear down a bush track.
"It improves their service delivery."
Mr O'Connor, who has been captain since 2010, said his brigade were unique in having such a strong role in road rescue.
IN OTHER NEWS
"We've been doing it for about 15 years or so," he said.
"We have two rescue roles - this is to do with road crash rescue - and we also do technical rescue.
"We're part of a much larger group for technical, but we do road rescue alone and go down past Dederang, on each side of the mountains, and we've been called to accidents in Omeo."
The brigade received training from supplier PT Hydraulics in how to use the battery-powered combination rescue tool, spreader, cutter and ram, and hydraulic-powered cutter and ram.
Receive our daily newsletter straight to your inbox each morning from The Border Mail. Sign up here