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Within three minutes of an alarm sounding, state-of-the-art fire trucks will be at the scene of any emergency at Sydney’s new international airport after it opens to cargo aircraft late next month.
Like a spear, a tip protruding from a long extendable turret known as a “snozzle” on each of the gigantic fire trucks can pierce an aircraft’s fuselage, releasing a mix of foam and water to douse a fire inside.
Among the 38 firefighters ready to rush to any incident is Amber Murphy, who arrived five weeks ago from Launceston for her role at the station built at a cost of about $100 million beside Western Sydney Airport’s 3.7 kilometre runway over the past two years.
“As we are driving, we are getting ready to respond. We’re sizing up; the flight commander is reaching out to external resources. We’re finding out information – who’s on board,” she explained. “And that’s where our training comes into it.”
Murphy, 28, shows that persistence pays off. Aspiring to become a firefighter, she initially sought to join the Tasmania Fire Service before later gaining a role at Launceston Airport’s fire station for Airservices Australia.
Western Sydney Airport’s fire station will be officially opened on July 9, the same day that a shake-up of flight paths over Sydney will take effect to incorporate the new $6 billion aviation hub.
An Airservices project, the station has three new Striker Volterra firefighting vehicles and a fourth on the way. The plug-in hybrid vehicles – running off either electricity or diesel – are the first of their kind for Australia.
Each of the six-wheel-drive trucks can carry 10,500 litres of water, and spray it farther than 80 metres to douse a fire. They are ready for the start of cargo flights on July 28, followed by airliners on October 25 when a Jetstar A320 will become the first passenger plane to take off from the airport.
The fire trucks’ high-reach extendable turrets are highly manoeuvrable, allowing firefighters to attack fires while they are protected inside their cabs.
Inside the station, a windowless room dominated by screens serves as the control centre, receiving a feed of the airport and aircraft movements from cameras mounted on a digital control tower nearby. It is a change to traditional control rooms at airport stations where firefighters can view movements out of windows.
Manned around the clock, pan-tilt cameras allow firefighters to zoom in on aircraft, while infrared technology ensures visibility at night.
The station is deemed a category-eight operation, which is based on the size of the largest aircraft landing at the airport. In comparison, Sydney Airport’s fire station is deemed category 10, which is the only one in the country at that level.
“The category then determines the amount of foam; the amount of trucks; and the amount of people that you actually need at the station to be able to respond to an aviation incident,” Airservices Australia chief aerodromes officer Michelle Petersen said.
“They’re actually trained to respond to all aircraft types, and then their local conditions.”
In a sign of the technology at play, the new airport station’s large garage doors will automatically lift the moment an alarm is triggered in the fire control centre, helping to save time responding to incidents.
Federal Transport Minister Catherine King said the new station and trucks were state-of-the-art, and firefighters were ready after training courses over the past year.
“To be honest, we hope we never have to use it. But we know that within three minutes from anywhere in the airport, they can be on-site, ready to go to help in the case of an emergency,” she said.
And with passenger flights fast approaching, firefighters know that one of their acts will be to use their new trucks to perform a water salute for the first aircraft to grace the airport.
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Matt O’Sullivan is transport and infrastructure editor at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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