Rural fire services in the Herbert River district are being better accommodated after two new facilities were opened on Saturday to house the Stone River and Toobanna Rural Fire Brigades.

Hinchinbrook MP, Andrew Cripps, attended the opening of the new Stone River Rural Fire Brigade shed on Saturday morning along with other invited guests, senior officials and brigade volunteers.

Mr Cripps said the hard work of Stone River Rural Fire Brigade officers Vince Balanzategui and Sam Torrisi, who were the driving forces behind the new shed, had finally paid off for the brigade.

“I was more than happy to support the Stone River Rural Fire Brigade to help secure the land for the new shed, but Vince and Sam deserve the credit for this important project” said Mr Cripps.

“Our local rural fire brigade volunteers deserve proper equipment and a base from which they can deliver this important service to the local community and I thank them for their efforts” he said.

Mr Cripps said he also attended the opening of the joint Toobanna Rural Fire Brigade and Ingham State Emergency Service Unit training, operations and storage facility on Saturday afternoon.

“The former Ingham Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Station on McIlwraith Street has been re-purposed as an operations and training facility for the Toobanna Rural Fire Brigade”.

“The Ingham SES is also benefiting from this project by taking advantage of an additional area to store vehicles and equipment, freeing up space for training and operations at its existing shed”.

Mr Cripps congratulated Toobanna Rural Fire Brigade First Officer Lenny Toscano and Ingham SES Controller Roger Bow, for working together to secure the re-purposed site for their volunteers.