Fire Stations Open their Doors
If there are two little boys that know what life is like with a fire fighting dad, it is Arthur and Albert Davis.
When the alarm goes off at their home both boys go into emergency mode shouting their father, Luke, the message “Go Dad, Go Dad”.
Even when the call comes in the middle of the night, the older of the two, Arthur, sings out ‘Go Dad’ and goes straight back to sleep.
Luke has been in the Singleton Fire Brigade for four years, juggling a full-time career and fatherhood with a roster at one of the busiest fire stations in the Upper Hunter.
It is not easy, but Luke says he joined because he wanted to do something for his community and that is exactly what he is doing.
On Saturday fire stations across the Upper Hunter were open to the public to give the community a better understanding of the service, a chance for the kids to sit on a fire truck and to heed messages such as ‘Keep Looking When Cooking’.
While there, The Hunter River Times questioned why only one fire truck was on display alongside the historic vehicle that usually only makes an appearance for the annual Christmas lolly run.
Singleton has two fire trucks, one is 15 years old and the other 28 years. One of the two is now in Mudgee replacing a broken-down vehicle leaving Singleton with just one truck.
Given the average annual call out for Singleton is between 400 and 450 jobs, one truck isn’t enough.
It was a point not lost on Labor who, after visiting the fire station on Saturday, announced $750,000 to improve infrastructure and replace the dated fire trucks.