Fire station on the move

Firefighters in Albany will relocate to a new facility after a $9.1 million infrastructure budget was announced.

The firefighters will move from the current home of Albany Fire Station on Collie Street, where the station has been for more than 70 years.

Albany’s new facility was announced at the same time as that of a new $20.3 million fire and rescue station to be built in the Perth CBD.

The future of the current Albany site at 77 Collie Street is yet to be determined. The Great Southern city’s new facility is expected to be open in 2016-17.

Department of Fire and Emergency Services Albany Superintendent Daniel Austin said the upgrade would improve many aspects of their job.

“It will give the guys the space they need to operate and train effectively,” he said.

“It will be a good resource for the community and community safety, which will hopefully improve response times and provide a better service to the community.

“These guys now will get the opportunity to upgrade to a state-of-the-art facility, which is something that will service the needs of the community.”

Mr Austin was currently unsure of the location of the future new facility.

The existing current Collie street location does not have room for training facilities which Department of Fire and Emergency services district officer Kevin Parsons said would help improve firefighter output.

“We have outgrown this space. There’s just not enough room for the number of people who work out of here now,” he said.

“From a training point of view, a bigger area (is needed) so they can do some of the training they need to do.”

State Government Treasurer Mike Nahan said the new Albany station would improve response times to fires and road crashes.