NSW's urban fire fighting force says it has been left under equipped after the state government decided to sell a helicopter used to battle extreme fires and rescue people from floodwaters.
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Fire and Rescue NSW says the loss of thehelicopter, which was in high demand during the 2013 Blue Mountains bushfires, is "a concern". It means the nation's busiest firefighting force does not have dedicated aerial support.
The Fire Air 1 helicopter was formerly shared between NSW Police and FRNSW. The ageing craft was decommissioned in June last year. It has been mothballed and will be sold.
The fire service used the helicopter to transport equipment and personnel, carry out reconnaissance, water-bomb fires and winch people from floods. It enabled a rapid response to complex emergencies such as metropolitan bushfires, the Newcastle storms and floods in 2007 and the Port Kembla ethanol tank fire in 2004.
FRNSW says the aviation capacity it provided was "essential" to its emergency response.
A FRNSW spokeswoman told Fairfax Media it was given short notice that the helicopter would be decommissioned, leaving little option but to enter a deal with the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service.
However, FRNSW's latest annual report said the arrangement "will not be able to replace the former capability" and "the loss of a partially owned on-call aviation asset is a concern".
The spokeswoman said the Westpac helicopter deal covered most of the fire service's needs, but the aircraft could not carry out water bombing and "may not always be available when required by FRNSW" because it would prioritise rescue missions.
"Because the aircraft are 'on-call' rather than a permanent resource, FRNSW no longer has permanent crew assigned," she said.
The spokeswoman said concerns about water bombing had eased this summer due to wetter-than-average conditions, and it would borrow water bombing helicopters from the Rural Fire Service if required, until a longer-term option was found.
Fire Brigade Employees Union state secretary Jim Casey said firefighters "take any erosion of our operational capacity very seriously".
"For the largest fire service in the southern hemisphere to not have aerial support is frankly ridiculous," he said.
Emergency Services Minister Stuart Ayres said the NSW State Air Desk had more than 100 aircraft available to Fire and Rescue NSW and other emergency services "which can be called upon at short notice". He said the Westpac helicopter agreement covered the majority of FRNSW's needs.
However the FRNSW spokeswoman said other helicopter options were required "to provide additional capacity during bushfires" and to fulfil specific roles previously performed by Fire Air 1.
Meantime, NSW Ambulance says it remains committed to a plan to train firefighters to respond to life-threatening emergencies, after the proposal stalled last year over the fire union's pay demands. FRNSW has faster response times than ambulances and says the program, which would expand on firefighters' current medical training, "could save many lives".
