Sea Rescue base cuts response times

Albany Sea Rescue members say their response time to incidents has been slashed by up to 10 minutes after their new facility was officially opened this week.

Albany Sea Rescue president Colin Bairstow said the extension of their headquarters would give volunteers instant access to their rescue vessels, with the addition of remote control doors.

“Before it was a tight squeeze — we would have unlock the doors and then back the tractor in and hook it up to the Rescue 1,” he said.

“Now it’s all hooked up and ready to go now, which should speed us up by about 5 to 10 minutes.

“It’s saving us time which is critical, and minutes are critical in our response.”

A $50,000 State Government Local Projects, Local Jobs election commitment contributed just over a third of the cost of the project, which was built by local firm MCB Construction.

Mr Bairstow said the squad’s membership and operational grant funding from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services had contributed greatly to the addition of their Emu Point headquarters. “It has just improved everything we do and it gives us a lot more room to spread out,” he said.