Fast start for new fire station

Published 6:00am 29 November 2023

Words by Nick Crockford

Above: Members of the permanent firefighting at the new Moreton Bay Central Fire and Rescue station

Firefighters at the new Moreton Bay Central Fire and Rescue Station answered their first call just 74 minutes after officially opening.

It was one of 37 in the first 10 days of operation at the $6 million station in Steel St, Narangba.

Of those, crews attended 19 incidents and responded to another 18, but were stood down en route and not needed.

Superintendent David Brazel, Queensland Fire and Emergency Service (QFES) Northern Zone Commander said five of the 19 incidents were “structure fires”.

Three were in the Moreton Bay Central area and two backing up other stations – including one at Kallangur on November 15 which gutted a home.

There were also two road traffic crashes (RTCs), two vehicle fires, one vegetation fire and six responses to alarms.

Moreton Bay Central’s “administrative boundary” takes in all North Lakes and Deception Bay and parts of Mango Hill, Narangba and Dakabin.

Operational responses are determined by the closest appliances and in order of recommendation.

Gallery - Picture journey of new station

Supt Brazel said the new station was a “great opportunity for QFES and the community to have additional firefighters in the area” and “will help response times”.

To mark the launch Mango Hill Progress Association (MHPA), which lobbied for the station, invited Supt Brazel to cut a cake and presented a commemorative plaque.

The station opened at 8am on Monday November 13 and has one officer and three firefighters with a fire alliance (pumper) on each of its four daily shifts.

Supt Brazel told this month's MHPA meeting he was “blown away” by the number of expressions of interest from firefighters wishing to be based at Moreton Bay Central.

Supt David Brazel and Mango Hill Progress Association President Laurence Christie cutting a cake to mark the opening of the first station.

Auxiliary firefighters are due to relocate from Deception Bay this week and will provide “surge capacity”, Supt Brazel said.

They will bring an additional Type 2 fire appliance and an echo appliance, a four-wheel drive vehicle.

Supt Brazel said it is hoped to get a water tanker, currently based in Caboolture, to Moreton Bay Central in the new year.

There is also a four-bay shed at the back of the station with a foam trailer, decontamination and rehabilitation trailer and a “kitchen simulator” used by auxiliaries.