South Australian firefighters have warned of chronic under-resourcing within the service, which they say is putting the state and lives at risk at the worst possible time of the year.
United Firefighters Union of South Australia Secretary Max Adlam says under-resourcing has stretched the Metropolitan Fire Service's ability to respond to breaking point, with a significant number of trucks approaching or beyond their useful life.
"In critical locations around Adelaide and some regional centres, trucks are beyond their useful life and are no longer in use," Ms Adlam said in a statement on Friday.
"Fires, whether it be a house fire or other structure fire, can take hold in a matter of two minutes, while there is a critical window when responding to a bushfire, meaning you can't afford for a truck to break down on the way to a job.
"That's why vehicle reliability is a major concern for our firefighters."
Ms Adlam said firefighters would ramp up an industrial campaign in the coming week using advertising and placards to raise community awareness.
She said the state government had no asset management plan in place to replace the trucks, many of which should have been retired and the community deserved to know.
"Running a fleet of fire trucks that are beyond their use-by date is putting a huge strain on an already under-resourced maintenance and engineering team," Ms Adlam said.
"The mechanics are working round the clock just to keep the trucks up and running and, at some point, trucks will fail when we need them and that will cost lives.
"We also have vulnerable locations, such as Port Lincoln, where the only water carrier is 30 years old and no longer operational.
"Across the state, our reserve fleet is in poor condition, lacks vital equipment such as working chainsaws and safety systems such as burn-over protection - all crucial when needed for strike teams on days of extreme fire danger. The situation is absolutely dire."
Ms Adlam said firefighters had requested the government shift its funding approach, to provide recurrent funding rather than grants, but had been rebuffed.
"All we're asking the government to do is provide the funding model and resourcing to dedicated firefighters so they can do their job to protect the community. When firefighters risk their lives every day on the job, surely this is not too much to ask," she said.
