RESIDENTS in the western Darling Downs and Maranoa are set to benefit from a major boost to communication services, particularly during emergencies.
Four new communications towers have been provided as part of the Blackspots Communication Reduction Program, through a partnership with Origin on behalf of Australia Pacific LNG and QGC, with the company's committing $100,000 each to the $700,000 project.
The news has been welcomed by the Queensland Fire and Emergency Service (QFES) who are already preparing for the beginning of bushfire season.
QFES Commissioner Katarina Carroll said they were thankful for the commitment which would help improve emergency response in those areas.
"Network coverage has been boosted by 82 per cent in Taroom, Wandoan, Surat and Injune thanks to these new towers," Ms Carroll said.
Great to visit Miles & see improved comms from the Blackspots Communication Reduction Program http://t.co/xVR3s9uhax http://t.co/l5eBtHfhx6
"These new communications towers mean that the fire brigade's personnel who service this area will be able to get clearer information from the Fire Communications Centre in Toowoomba about the location and scale of incidents from Triple Zero calls when they are in remote areas.
"Also, once they arrive on scene, they can more easily feed information back to Firecom to ensure there are enough resources mobilised to handle the size of the incident and all of this translates to a more efficient bushfire response."
Kogan and District Fire Brigade firefighter Rachael Jacobsen said the towers would prove to be extremely helpful.
We can communicate with our other trucks, we can communicate back to our base stations and back to Firecom, which is in Toowoomba," she said.
"It really does make a massive difference to our lives."