Construction Underway On $8.6m Perth Airport Fire Station

Construction Underway On $8.6m Perth Airport Fire Station

Airservices has started construction of a new state-of-the art fire station at Perth Airport.

The $8.6m aviation rescue and fire fighting (ARFF) service building is part of a major upgrade of airport fire service facilities and equipment nationally.

ARFF General Manager, Andrew Rushbrook, said the new special purpose building at the northern end of the main runway would replace the current fire station in front of the domestic terminal.

"As flight traffic at Perth airport has grown significantly, we have outgrown the usefulness of the current building," Mr Rushbrook said.

"Airservices has made a major commitment to new buildings, equipment, and people to ensure we can continue to deliver effective and cost efficient aviation rescue and fire fighting services at major airports, including Perth."

Perth Airport CEO Brad Geatches said he welcomed this initiative from Airservices and the new fire station would complement and enhance Perth Airport's improvement program to support the continued growth in demand for aviation services at Perth Airport.

Airservices fire fighters can be at the scene of any aircraft emergency on the airport within three minutes to meet international safety regulations.

Nationally, Airservices fire fighters respond to an average of 150 calls a week across Australia's 21 busiest regional, domestic and international airports. In the past two years they have saved more than 20 lives.

The new Perth fire station will operate at international `Category Nine' standards on completion, the second-highest level of service provided by Airservices at Australian airports.

However the station will be built to `Category 10' standards, allowing it to house up to 17 fire fighters on shift at any one time and six specialist fire and rescue trucks. This will allow Airservices to meet future requirements associated with any introduction to service of regular flights by A380 aircraft in Perth.

The new fire station is being built by Perth-based company Badge Constructions (WA) Pty Ltd. It is expected to be fully operational by mid-2010.

For media enquiries or an artist's impression of the new fire station please call 02 6257 2828 or email [email protected]

SOURCE: Airservices