Donations help Goornong Brigade secure new radios

Generous donations to the brigade have helped the Goornong Fire Brigade secure six new UHF radios to be used when responding to incidents.

Donations help Goornong Brigade secure new radios

Photo: Goornong Fire Brigade

The six new radios include four portable handsets as well as two mounted radios which have been installed in the firefighting appliances.

The brigade spent around $2000 in donations to purchase the radios.

Goornong Fire Brigade Captain Jason Carty said the radios had been on the brigade’s wish list for around 10 years.

“Ensuring we are able to communicate effectively with neighbouring farmers at the scene of an incident is very important in our community,” Cpt Carty said.

“Private farmers often make their way out to fire incidents in farm utes or bulk water carriers to provide a helping hand to their neighbours so we need to be equipped with the ability to speak to them.

“This will allow us to tell them where they should position themselves at an incident or inform them of any challenges or risks such as wind changes.”

The portable radios are waterproof and have a reach of around one kilometre, while the mounted radios have Bluetooth functionality and GPS technology, allowing crews to locate another appliance at the scene using the equipment.

Cpt Carty said the portable radios will be used to supplement existing CFA communications and support other agencies at an incident site.

“These will not replace the standard CFA radios, but instead will be a great addition for our brigade to be able to communicate with more people during an incident,” he said.

Goornong Fire Brigade 1st Lieutenant Jamie Francis said a passing comment to his landlord ended up turning into a sizeable contribution to the brigade.

“Earlier this year my landlord asked me what our brigade would be hoping to purchase next and I mentioned the radios to him and not much was said after that,” Lt Francis said.

“I didn’t expect him to do anything but it turned out he put forward a significant contribution which really helped us in securing the equipment we needed.”

Cpt Carty thanked the entire community for all their generous donations to the brigade.

“We appreciate everybody who was generous enough to give what they could to our brigade,” he said.

“Equipment like this makes what we do a lot easier and I’m glad we can put this money towards something that allows us to be better at keeping our community safe.”

/CFA News Release. View in full here.