A former branch president of the ACT United Firefighters Union, Matt Mavity has been appointed to the role of ACT Fire & Rescue chief officer - but he faces a lengthy list of issues with which to grapple.
Mr Mavity has been acting in the role of chief officer since the April 2020 departure of Mark Brown, who had served in the position for five years.
Notably, he is the first "local product" ACT chief officer since the service's inception, having risen up through the ranks since joining joining as a recruit firefighter in 1997.
However, the former union boss and Kambah fire station chief won't be cut any slack by the rank and file, with many pressing issues confronting him.
A key one is that the 20 recruits graduating from their firefighting training early next month won't have the latest protective clothing which has been trialled and approved, as COVID-induced shipping delays have prevented the equipment from arriving.
However, the ESA says the current equipment "meets the Australian standards, and there is adequate resourcing for current graduates".
Mr Mavity said he was assured the new gear would arrive in time.
The new recruit class is the first cohort in the 99 new trainees promised for ACT Fire & Rescue over the next five years.
Another key issue is the purpose-built Rosenbauer aerial pumping appliance has not been field-ready since it arrived in Canberra a year ago. The specialist machine was one of two delivered from funding allocated in the 2018-19 ACT budget.
The combined aerial pumping appliance has a ladder which can extend 24 metres for high-rise fire and rescue. It requires specialist training for four crew members.
"I'm absolutely committed to safety and there is no way I'm releasing that highly technical piece of equipment into operational service until we have enough fully trained people to get it out there," Mr Mavity said.
"It is an immensely capable bit of gear, but it is complex. Operating at height, up to 24 metres, means that our people have to be trained for that.
"It's the first one of our kind in our service so we starting from a point zero [with this appliance]. It's a brand new type of pump because we've gone to a new manufacturer."
COVID restrictions have prevented the travel of the agents to commission and train the firefighters in the operation of the equipment.
Solicitors representing the ACT branch of the union recently wrote to the ACT government seeking an explanation as to why some agreed areas of the enterprise bargaining agreement had not been delivered.
One of them includes the new Acton fire station, which was given the go-ahead by the government in August last year but on which construction is yet to start.
The $45 million station had been expected to be operable in the 2022-23 financial year, but is still in the "design and consultation" stage.
