Winton CFA Captain Phillip Spokes said the new truck arrived thanks to a swap the brigade did with Mansfield CFA.
“We’ve been waiting for quite some time for an addition of a new tanker to our fleet,” Mr Spokes said.
“The previous tanker I had is 27 years old and two-wheel drive.
“So I was always hesitant to turn out to Chesney Vale or Lurg, where the topography is steep.
“With my risk profile out around Winton we’ve got multiple solar farms now.
“The way we now fight solar farm fires is using a big monitor on the front of the tanker essentially, which our current tanker, the old girl, didn’t have.
“So this one’s got the monitor. Everybody’s travelling to and from a scene in the cabin, which is air-conditioned.”
Mr Spokes said the new tanker was not only capable of holding 4000 litres of water, it was four-wheel drive, fully automatic and its safety features were second to none.
“If you get caught in what we call a burn-over situation, everybody’s in the cabin, there’s no confusion, everybody’s talking to each other, everybody’s safe,” he said.
Mr Spokes said the Benalla group had put a new tanker for Winton CFA as a top priority.
“There was another brigade that this tanker was meant to go to,” he said.
“That is over in Mansfield. But they had a look at it and felt it wasn’t suitable for their needs.
“It was too large. The guys over at Mansfield felt it would be much better utilised over here.”
Mr Spokes said Winton had been selected to receive a new medium-sized tanker in 2025.
“Now that one will go to Mansfield,” he said.
Mr Spokes said he had been going through driver training on the new tanker.
“Which means I am now training my team, and before long we’ll have around nine members who can drive it.”
Mr Spokes said he wanted to thank the District 23 brigades, specifically Jeff Rowe and Phil Rees.
“Having this is an absolute game changer for us,” he said.
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