A Laverton North company has been tasked with fitting out firefighting vehicles with new equipment and greater capacity to tackle blazes.
Quik Corp, a Queensland-based company that set up in Laverton North just 12 months ago, has vowed to give almost half the 34 jobs the fit-out has created to redundant workers from local car and manufacturing industries.
The $32 million upgrade of Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning vehicles will also include a contract with Mercedes Benz Unimog to create the vehicle’s cab chassis.
Quik Corp sales and business development manager Chris Coren said many of the redundant car industry workers had good skills-sets that could be used on site.
Vehicle upgrades will include boosting the water carrying capacity to 4000 litres, enabling vehicles to tow an additional 8000 litres of water in a trailer, capacity to carry four firefighters (double that of previous tankers), in-cabin firefighting capability, and a falling objects protection structure.
“There are so many dead trees in Victorian forests, and they … fall over,” Mr Coren said. “The whole idea for us is to minimise that risk [of being hit by falling trees].”
He said engineers have tested the reinforced cabins using falling trees up to 30 metres high.
“The main thing we want to get across is that our company won’t finish this [five-year] contract and then go away. We are big in the agriculture market, and we want to build the business and create more jobs. We’ve been looking at a number of different places across Australia, but decided to invest in Laverton North,” Mr Coren said.
Energy, Environment and Climate Change Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said the investment was important globally, developing state-of-the-art firefighting technology for rural and regional communities.
“We’re providing a significant boost to the local economy and opportunities for our world-class workers,” she said.
