00:00After months of work, mostly by fire officers themselves,
00:04a temporary site for the Princess Town fire station was officially opened on Wednesday.
00:11The original High Street location was shut down in mid-2024
00:15due to a rat infestation and poor infrastructure.
00:19And while the government promises to build a new facility,
00:22it said a temporary site was needed to keep the area protected in the interim.
00:27At a cost of $229,800, Chief Fire Officer Andy Hutchinson welcomed the temporary station.
00:37In emergency response, every second matters.
00:42Distance adds time, and time costs lives, homes and livelihoods.
00:51While this facility serves as an interim solution,
00:54its potential impact is both immediate and far-reaching.
00:58Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander says the station is responsible
01:03for over 118,500 people across 56 communities,
01:10a few of which are still too far to ensure quick enough response times.
01:16Anybody here from Maruga?
01:21You're next.
01:22Even if they put a substation or something along those lines,
01:26that could help the people of Maruga.
01:29Minister, how soon until the Maruga next financial year?
01:34It's still in its phase of discussion,
01:36so as soon as we get the green light, we'll try to action it.
01:41Minister Alexander says in terms of overall response by emergency responders,
01:46he believes that sometimes it is timely, but it is not always adequate,
01:53and he wants to work towards packaging the dispatch of first responders.
01:57We have the police arriving, but the fire service, the ambulance team was never informed.
02:05So now we're waiting probably to save a life.
02:10So we are thinking and packaging our next move,
02:15how to get the police service, the ambulance service, the fire service together.
02:20So when we respond, we respond like a team.
02:24Once the area is cleared and they are persons injured,
02:27they must be able to come and at least attempt to save lives.
02:30It's one package and not several packages.
02:34That is my intention, and that is what we are working on at this time.
02:38Cindy Raguba Tika Singh, TV6 News.
