FIREPOWER BOOST IN MELBOURNE
With the on-going expansion of Melbourne’s Docklands waterfront precinct, the city’s Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Service Board (MFB) recently added a second rapid response boat to its array of fire fighting tools.
The craft backs up an existing vessel of near identical specifications, and will be used to tackle a range of fires in Docklands’ growing retail and residential areas, and beyond.
According to the MFB’s Chris Schey, the Stabicraft 389 fitted with a fuel-injected Yamaha F40 outboard, will be perfect for handling the sort of outbreaks typical of the region. “Our most common call out is to attend small fires in the timber piles that support the docks,” he said. “These fires can’t be accessed by a regular road appliance; we need to get there by water so that we can gain access underneath the piers to the heart of the fire. Generally these are started by fishermen who’ve been smoking on the piers while fishing,” he added.
The Stabicraft has been rigged to suit the MFB’s requirements, and comes with a foam-filled hull to maintain buoyancy in the event of a swamping, plus a propeller guard. “While we are primarily set up for fire fighting, it’s quite conceivable in the Docklands precinct that we could have to work in situation where there are people in the water,” Schey said.