The new Kensington Fire Station is officially operational, with firefighters joining new Emergency Services Minister Reece Whitby on Friday (March 26) as they took up residence in the new facility - greatly enhancing the capacity of local emergency services south of Perth's CBD.
The Kensington Career Fire and Rescue Service has called the old station building home since 1973.
The local brigade will now respond to emergencies from the new station, which features a bigger vehicle bay, dedicated learning facilities with a new training tower and rescue pad, and an integrated gym and outdoor area.
The station has been designed with the flexibility to accommodate new incident response appliances that will provide a more contemporary emergency response capability to the changing built environment of the metropolitan area.
In the nearly 50 years since the original fire station was built, the urban landscape has undergone significant changes with the increase in medium-to-high rise residential and commercial buildings.
The new station, funded through the Emergency Services Levy, ensures local firefighters have the capacity to maintain an exemplary standard of emergency response now and into the future.
Kensington Fire Station was expected to be fully operational by April and has been completed ahead of schedule.
As stated by Emergency Services Minister Reece Whitby:
"As the Kensington Career Fire and Rescue Service moves into their new home, the community can rest assured local firefighters have access to the best infrastructure and equipment, whether responding to fires, road crash rescues or hazardous materials.
"This state-of-the-art fire station will cater for population growth and further changes to the landscape for decades to come."
As stated by South Perth MLA-elect Geoff Baker:
"The new Kensington Fire Station is a terrific asset for our community, making sure local emergency services are as best equipped as possible to respond to incidents in and around the South Perth area.
"I am particularly pleased that local firefighters had a great deal of input into the project design because it's critical the station meets their needs."
As stated by Victoria Park MLA-elect Hannah Beazley:
"Local people can rest assured our hardworking emergency services workers are now located in state-of-the-art facilities to ensure they can continue their brilliant work responding to incidents and protecting the community.
"Additionally, the construction of this station created local jobs and helped to support the Western Australian economy during a difficult year for many businesses."
