QUICK CAMPS’ SWIFT RESPONSE IN QUEENSLAND
In October 2023, Quick Camps got an urgent call from Superintendent Wayne Watisbuhl, Regional Manager of rural operations at Queensland Fire and Emergency Service (QFES). Wayne needed help to establish an emergency service centre in the Toowoomba region to tackle their raging bushfires.
Within a day we travelled out to Toowoomba to meet Wayne and his team. As soon as we arrived, we saw the urgency of the situation. Already, 31,000 hectares of country had burned in and around Carnarvon National Park over several weeks, causing closure of the national park as crews tried to protect infrastructure and cultural sites. Containment had been difficult given the rugged and largely inaccessible country. The cause of the fire was still being investigated.
The State had allocated $18.5 million to establish an emergency centre that would allow a core team of emergency workers to coordinate the efforts. Up to that point, there was nowhere for their emergency crews to sleep due to the housing shortage in the area. Emergency teams were having to deal with the fire and heat and then travel up to two hours to sleep.
Quick Camps swings into action
Quick Camps modular housing equipment had just become available in South Australia due to completion of a project there. What fortunate timing. We did a hand shake deal with Wayne on Friday afternoon and started mobilising equipment that day. The first equipment started arriving in Toowoomba on Thursday, less than a week later. We then redeployed the units to the bushfire areas as a 16 man ‘strike force camp’ that allowed emergency workers to station themselves close to the fires to coordinate the fire fighting efforts.
The new Quick Camps set up gave the emergency services immediate relief by:
- Reducing fatigue among the emergency workers.
- Keeping more people in the field to increase their capacity to fight the fires.
- Reducing road accidents by greatly reducing the amount of travel required
- Giving their staff better safety and wellbeing.
- Keeping their strike force team on the frontline, refreshed and energised as much as possible.
With the bushfires dealt with, now it was time to tackle the floods
Within six weeks, Quick Camps was asked by QFES to support the floods that were now spreading across South East Queensland, caused by severe storms. In the Logan, Scenic Rim and Gold Coast regions, intense rainfall and flash flooding had closed roads and caused landslides, with strong winds causing powerlines and trees to fall on homes, vehicles and across roads. There were widespread power outages and QFES needed to coordinate a massive clean up effort, requiring extraordinary support.
With the bushfires now under control, Quick Camps jumped in and redeployed our camps from the bushfire emergency centre outside Toowoomba, down to the south east Queensland region to support the flood efforts.
Once again, Queensland emergency response teams were able to get the rest and rejuvenation they needed, thanks to the comfort and close proximity of the Quick Camps modular set ups.
The Quick Camps mission: To take care of your accommodation needs and the wellbeing of your staff so you can focus on getting the job done.
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