The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) will receive $45 million in additional funding to fast-track hazard reduction and fleet upgrades to prepare for the next bushfire season.
The funding boost includes:
- $10.7 million for additional State Mitigation Crews to help fast-track hazard reduction burning
- $34.4 million to upgrade the RFS firefighting fleet.
The hazard reduction task will create an additional 100 jobs which will form 25 crews to support rural and regional communities across NSW.
The additional funding for RFS fleet upgrades will help rollout new vehicles to brigades – delivering 120 new vehicles and 70 refurbished trucks by the end of the 2020-2021 financial year.
Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said despite the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires burning more than five million hectares of land, there was still more to be done to prepare for the season ahead.
“We want our volunteers to have the very best equipment available to them when they put their lives on the line to keep the community safe,” Mr Elliott said.
“This investment in fire trucks will also create hundreds of manufacturing jobs for regional economies which have been hit hard by drought, fire and now a global pandemic.”
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