FIRE AND EMERGENCY
SERVICES — ELECTION COMMITMENTS — 2021–22 STATE BUDGET
736. Hon MARTIN ALDRIDGE to the Leader of the House
representing the Minister for Emergency Services:
I refer to election commitments
funded in the 2021–22 state budget.
(1) On what date
can the additional firefighters be expected in Kalgoorlie–Boulder,
Geraldton and Albany?
(2) Can the
minister please provide a breakdown of the funding per year and identify the
source of the funds if other than from the consolidated account?
(3) Can the minister please identify which
firefighters and which fire services will benefit from the $4.9 million
investment in personal protective clothing?
(4) How many sets of PPC will be
made available to —
(a) career firefighters; and
(b) volunteer firefighters?
Hon SUE ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1) The process to recruit, train and initially deploy
career firefighters from start to finish takes time. It will take two to three years to complete, based on our
capacity to train new recruits. However, the Department of Fire and Emergency
Services will be starting to post additional career firefighters to regional Western
Australia from 2021. The recruitment process for the next trainee firefighter
school commences in November 2021, with
testing to begin in early 2022. The school takes just over five months, and
DFES intends to post some of those graduates to regional stations prior
to the 2022–23 southern bushfire season.
(2) This information is available in
the state budget.
(3) The $4.9 million investment in personal protective
clothing will replace the level 2 structural PPC statewide for career
fire and rescue service personnel, volunteer fire and rescue service and
volunteer fire and emergency services firefighters who currently have level 2 PPC.
(4) A total of 4 100 sets are required for a full
level 2 structural PPC replacement statewide. The full replacement quota
for career and volunteer services is —
(a) 2 246 sets
for career fire and rescue service firefighters; and
(b) 1 854 sets for volunteer fire and rescue service
and volunteer fire and emergency services firefighters.