Mark Shelton,Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Management
Tasmania's volunteer remote area firefighting recruits are being put through their paces in the final round of their intense training as part of the Tasmanian Government's plan to keep Tasmanians safe.
The 30 volunteer firefighters were selected from an Expression of Interest process earlier this year which attracted more than 200 applicants from the Tasmania Fire Service's existing volunteer membership.
Remote area firefighters access difficult terrain by helicopter or on foot, and use special light weight pumps or hand tools to protect our iconic natural assets or to fight bushfires before they spread and impact our cities, towns and critical infrastructure.
We recognise that developing an additional remote area response capacity within Tasmania is an important step to meet our future challenges and protect Tasmanians from the threat of bush fires.
These additional numbers will enhance the existing capability of over 100 trained career Tasmania Fire Service firefighters and those in our partner agencies Parks and Wildlife Service and Sustainable Timber Tasmania.
With more than 330 career firefighters and over 5,000 volunteer firefighters across more than 230 brigades, Tasmania is ready to respond and is working to reduce the threat of bushfire in the state.
