Auxiliary firefighters from Rosewood and Marburg undertook a training session on the 518 India fire appliance which is fitted with a ‘cherry picker’ platform, on Sunday. The ‘branch’ to the left hand side of the platform contains the ‘monitor’ from which water can be directed from ground level or on the platform. Photo: LYLE RADFORD
The hydraulic platform aerial appliance from Roma Street Fire station was sent to a call out from Rosewood Fire Station for assistance in rescuing an injured Koala and her joey from a tree on the Rosewood Karrabin Road on Sunday August 4.
THE call sign for the big fire appliance fitted with a ‘cherry picker’ platform is 518 India.
The appliance is headquartered at the Durack Fire Station in readiness for call outs from throughout the region to commercial fires.
On Sunday, it was at the Rosewood Fire Station for a training exercise with Rosewood and Marburg Auxiliary firefighters as well as two officers from Bundamba.
“Everyone had a chance to go up in the platform,” said Lt Ben Abraham from the Rosewood station.
“The exercise was about familiarisation with the size and capabilities of the appliance and the monitor on the platform.”
He said call outs for 518 India could be made for fires in commercial building, big buildings and big sheds.
These types of hydraulic platform aerial appliances can also be called out for injured animal rescue.
One such call out happened on Sunday evening, August 4, when an RSPCA officer alerted the Rosewood team to an injured Koala and her joey.
“They had been hit by a car on the Rosewood Karrabin Road and had climbed up a tree.”
The rescue happened around 6.00pm, when the firefighters brought the Koala down from the heights and handed them on to a waiting RSPCA officer.
“Unfortunately, the mother Koala wasn’t able to be saved but the joey lived, which is good news,” Lt Abraham said.
