Within three minutes of an alarm sounding, a fleet of hybrid fire trucks will be racing down the runway at Sydney's new Western Sydney Airport. And if a plane is on fire, those trucks have a trick up their sleeve — a "snozzle" that can punch through the fuselage and spray foam and water inside.
The $100 million fire station, built over two years beside the 3.7-kilometre runway, will officially open on July 9 — the same day flight paths over Sydney get a major shake-up to make room for the $6 billion aviation hub. Cargo flights kick off on July 28, and the first passenger flight — a Jetstar A320 — is scheduled for October 25.
Airservices Australia runs the station, and it's got some serious gear. Three Striker Volterra firefighting vehicles are already on site, with a fourth on the way. These plug-in hybrids can run on electricity or diesel — the first of their kind in Australia. Each six-wheel-drive beast carries 10,500 litres of water and can spray it more than 80 metres. The extendable turrets are so manoeuvrable that firefighters can attack a blaze from inside the cab, fully protected.
One of the 38 firefighters ready to roll is Amber Murphy, 28, who moved from Launceston five weeks ago for this gig. She originally wanted to join the Tasmania Fire Service but ended up at Launceston Airport's fire station for Airservices instead. "As we are driving, we are getting ready to respond. We're sizing up; the flight commander is reaching out to external resources. We're finding out information – who's on board," she said. "And that's where our training comes into it."
The station itself is a windowless command centre, with screens fed by cameras from a digital control tower nearby. Pan-tilt cameras let firefighters zoom in on aircraft, and infrared tech keeps things visible at night. The garage doors automatically lift the moment an alarm triggers, shaving precious seconds off response times.
This facility is rated category eight — meaning it's sized for the biggest aircraft that will land there. For comparison, Sydney Airport's fire station is category 10, the only one in Australia at that level. "The category then determines the amount of foam; the amount of trucks; and the amount of people that you actually need at the station to be able to respond to an aviation incident," said Michelle Petersen, Airservices Australia's chief aerodromes officer.
Federal Transport Minister Catherine King said the station and trucks are state-of-the-art, and firefighters have been training for the past year. "To be honest, we hope we never have to use it. But we know that within three minutes from anywhere in the airport, they can be on-site, ready to go to help in the case of an emergency," she said.
And when that first passenger plane touches down in October, the firefighters will have a special job: using their new trucks to perform a water salute. It's a tradition that marks a milestone — and for a brand-new airport, it's a big one.