DESPITE an independent review recommending in late 2022 that a dedicated incident control centre be established in the Perth Hills the community will have to settle for mobile incident units.

A dedicated incident control centre was one of the recommendations made by the Wooroloo bushfire independent inquiry.

But No funding agreement for Perth Hills control centre confirmed there was no funding agreement for the establishment of a Perth Hills incident control centre.

Instead the Cook and Albanese Labor governments have agreed to provide incident control units and a vehicle to move them around the state.

On February 19 the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) confirmed both the state and federal governments had provided funding for the mobile incident control units.

A DFES spokesman said the state government provided $500,000 to fund the construction of the four initial state-of-the-art mobile incident control units which have joined the DFES fleet.

The spokesman said an agreement was signed with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) about six weeks ago on January 14 which would fund up to eight containers and a vehicle.

“DFES is also funding an additional four containers and two trucks for transportation from its existing budget,’’ he said.

In January last year Power back but incident control centre still waits reported Hasluck MHR Tania Lawrence’s $3 million previous election commitment of $1.25m for an incident response and communication failover centre for the Shire of Mundaring and $1.75m to increase mobile coverage in Herne Hill, Brigadoon and North Stoneville.

This was followed by Perth Hills incident control centre progress criticised where the Nationals criticised Labor for not having delivered an incident control centre ahead of the summer bushfire season.

Back then WA Opposition Emergency Services spokesman Martin Aldridge was critical a Perth Hills incident control centre still had not started almost four years on from the Wooroloo bushfire, which claimed 86 homes and burnt almost 11,000ha.

In a statement Ms Lawrence said the new mobile incident control units were supported by a $1.25m investment from the Albanese Government.

Made up of mobile control units similar to shipping containers, the units can be easily deployed across the Perth Hills and scaled up.

“This flexibility means first responders will have a dedicated space for command and control nearby a fire, storm, or any other natural hazard, and it can be used for concurrent hazards,’’ the statement said.

The Nationals Central Wheatbelt MLA and Bullwinkel candidate Mia Davies said only she and Nationals leader David Littleproud had committed to issue tenders and to deliver the dedicated facility the independent inquiry recommended.

Liberal candidate Matt Moran said mobile units could improve response times in some cases, but they did not replace the need for a properly resourced, fixed facility in a high-risk bushfire area like the Perth Hills.