Ballan will be home to the new Country Fire Authority training centre. The state government announced on Monday its plans for the new facility, two years after the closure of the toxic Fiskville centre.
It will be built on a 35-hectare site on the corner of Gillespies Lane and Ingliston Road – east of the Ballan Industrial Estate, and 10 kilometres from Fiskville.
Design and planning works are expected to start soon, and building should begin in the first half of next year.
The state government committed $31 million in its 2016-17 budget to buy land and build the new facility in the Central Highlands region, following the closure of the Fiskville centre.
There has been intense community pressure on the state government and Emergency Management Victoria (EMV) to build the new centre in Ballan, which has lost at least $16 million from the local economy as a result of Fiskville’s closure.
Emergency Services Minister James Merlino conceded there had been a “gap in [CFA] training” over the past two years and the Ballan community was reeling from the loss of one of the main employers in the region.
The new centre will be lead by the CFA, but emergency services personnel from across the state, including SES and Ambulance Victoria, will also train there.
“We’re trying to ensure there are state-of-the-art facilities delivering the training our firefighters need,” Mr Merlino said.
“This is about delivering as close to real-world training as we can.”
Mr Merlino said a “number” of sites in the Moorabool shire had been considered, but having a training facility in Ballan was a “clear desire” for the community and council.
Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley said following close consultation, authorities very quickly realised the impact the closure of Fisvkille had had on the community.
He reassured the community there would be no repeat of Fiskville – where firefighters were exposed to chemicals that likely cause cancer – as the EMV and CFA were building to newer standards, using the latest technology.
“[The closure of Fiskville] has had an inconvenience, but the main thing is we’re now looking forward – it’s a new era, a new era of training for the Central Highlands region and we’ll be bringing the best types of training to be the safest training,” he said.
Moorabool council chief executive Rob Croxford welcomed the announcement. He said many locals had lost their jobs after the closure of Fiskville and the knock-on effect to businesses in Ballan was profound.
Ballan fire brigade lieutenant Ian Ireland said he was pleased the state government had committed to building the facility. He said since the closure of Fiskville, CFA volunteers were travelling up to six hours a day for training.
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