Western Australia’s south west communities are benefiting from a second rescue helicopter. Operating from Bunbury, 175 km south of Perth, the helicopter provides critical medical care, essential hospital transfers, and search and rescue services.
Managed by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) and supported by Royalties for Regions funding and the RAC, ‘Rescue 652’ commenced operations initially from a temporary facility in early 2016.
DFES engaged Paramount Projects’ staff to manage project delivery in 2015. Paramount’s contribution has been instrumental in securing the required $30m funding and ensuring the commencement of operations from the state-of-the-art Bunbury Rescue Helicopter Base by December 2016.
Demonstrating our capability, the project schedule and budget, including design and construction of the permanent helicopter base, has remained on track.
The new helicopter now provides critical care services in conjunction with the Perth-based rescue helicopter around the clock on every day of the year. It effectively doubles service capability, and can cover 95% of WA’s population.
The key is to save lives and improve patient outcomes. Rescue 652 can respond more rapidly to areas beyond the general flying range of the Perth-based helicopter as well as to incidents that are difficult or time consuming to reach in fixed wing aircraft or road ambulances.
Paramount is proud to have contributed to such an important project benefiting community safety outcomes.