RFBAQ develops prototype mobile water unit to keep people at fire fronts

The Rural Fire Brigade Association of Queensland has developed the proposal to station 5000 litre skid units at Rural Fire Brigade depots, which are often situated in proximity to council depots, that would be deployed to either to refill 500l slip-on units being used fighting a bushfire, or to knock down the flanks of the fire themselves.

RFBAQ general manager Justin Choveaux said the idea had been developed in response to the reality that there were less people in rural areas but still the same bushfire risk.

"By changing the type of equipment we supply, a person can stay on the fire ground 10 times longer because they've got 10 times the water," he said.

There are currently 3700 slip-on units with primary producer brigades around the state, which gives them the ability to immediately knock down a fire, and Mr Choveaux said the Rural Fire Service Queensland liked them because they didn't need to maintain an enormous fleet of vehicles that need housing, servicing and insuring.

"This is why 60 per cent of rural fire brigades in Queensland don't have a truck and most don't want one," he said.

Mr Choveaux said the plan that would be user-tested in February next year in the state's central and far west, where truck hub brigades and non-truck brigades work alongside local government, to determine the response to the idea and fine tune it where necessary.

"If the concept is found to be valid then there is time to produce a number of units ahead of the 2023/24 fire season," he said. "With the recent rains and the associated fuel loads that will become a very actual instead of theoretical problem after eight years of drought."

It's anticipated local brigade members who participate will bring in a flat bed truck at the beginning of a fire season and have the 5000L skid dogged down onto it.

"Councils will be engaged as in small towns they have the capacity to both store equipment and also have the equipment lifted onto flatbed trucks," Mr Choveaux said. "This will also vastly increase the availability of portable water in the event of building fires in towns."

At the end of a fire season the brigade member would then bring the unit back for the RFSQ to have the equipment serviced and safely stored under cover until the next time it was needed.

Mr Choveaux was at pains to reassure primary producers that their 500l slip-on units wouldn't be taken away, saying that the larger tanks were an additional resource.

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When an area goes into drought or is identified as not having a fire season, half the units in depots could be picked up by truck and moved to areas of the state that are identified as higher risk, Mr Choveaux added.

He has sourced a quote of $13,000 to build a prototype.

He said if the idea were to be rolled out around the state, they would be paid for by the state government.

"A medium attack fire truck costs over $250,000 and then you've got to service and maintain it, which is very expensive," he said.

"For $13,000, it's cheaper, you've got more water, and it leaves landholders in control of the fire, which is what you want.

"While the risk is not changing, the demographics are and if we are to continue to provide the equipment that volunteers need to defend their communities then we must change the equipment that is provided."

The RFBAQ has also announced the opening of a $1 million grant program available for all Queensland rural fire brigades.

Some 200 grants of $5000 each are available, fully funded by public donations, and will be broken into four rounds.

Equipment must be purchased from local suppliers, which in the case of very remote brigades such a Burketown, could be their closest supplier, and is for items not already supplied by the Rural Fire Service.

According to Mr Choveaux, the organisation provided a number of different grant programs, including emergency grants to assist brigades and members affected by fire and flood.

"I'd hate to think how much fencing we've helped put back up this year, especially around Millmerran," he said. "We do a lot of ag pipe as well, which gets burnt out."

The 2019 season was a time of high demand, when 48 to 50 emergency grants, in the vicinity of $2500-4000, were made.