Bushfire volunteers' trucks get safety upgrade

The City of Albany's volunteer bushfire brigades will get the latest safety upgrades with deluge systems fitted to fire trucks this fire season.

They will be the first in WA to be fitted with the spray protection system, which is designed to protect firefighters should they become trapped by a burnover.

It will be a staged upgrade with the first batch of trucks leaving Albany on September 21 and loan vehicles supplied while the upgrades take place.

The deluge system trickles water across the cab, tyres and pump - the critical components of a fire truck - using water from the truck's tanks to protect the whole vehicle and most importantly the cab, for up to five minutes.

All brigade vehicles will also be fitted with in-cab, air-breathing systems.

City chief bushfire control officer Derek Jones said the local government was the first in the State to receive the deluge system, which follows on from the installation of in-cab radiant heat shields and fire blankets being provided for each firefighter.

The safety upgrades were recommended after a major incident review into the fatal Black Cat Creek fire near Two Peoples Bay in 2012, which claimed the life of Department of Environment and Conservation firefighter Wendy Bearfoot.

Mr Jones said the next part of the ongoing upgrades to vehicles would be installing GPS systems.

"Anything that makes it safer for our crews is very welcome by every volunteer on the ground," he said.

Mr Jones said people interested in joining a brigade this summer should register now.

He said waiting until the warmer weather arrived was too late as brigades were focussed on response by then and there was no time for training.