Explosive twist in CFA’s feud with state government as fire captains take new stand

The dramatic rift between the State Government and volunteer firefighters has deepened further, with CFA captains taking a controversial stand just before the summer season.

The rift between the state government and volunteer firefighters has deepened as CFA captains warn they will refuse to fight fires near a controversial proposed power line.

Letters sent to Premier Daniel Andrews and acting CFA chief Garry Cook, and obtained by the Sunday Herald Sun, say the new 190km high-voltage transmission lines would ­expose crews to excessive risk.

Under the proposal, AusNet plans to install towers up to 75m high, the same size as the MCG light towers, along a 190km corridor from outer Melbourne to western Victoria.

But the captains of eight brigades have told the Premier they “will not respond to fires on, above or around the proposed 500kV (500,000 volt) high voltage power lines”.

“Due to the high risk as well as the unknown hazards working around this type of infrastructure, we do this to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our members,” they said.

It would result in firefighters refusing to fight fires across bushfire-prone land and major population centres including Bacchus Marsh and Melton, exposing hundreds of thousands of Victorians to risk.

Some CFA captains are warning they’ll refuse to fight fires near a controversial new powerline proposal

James Ross from the CFA brigade in Coimadai said the power lines project would increase the risk to communities, firefighters and wildlife.

“We have seen the Black Saturday fires and the destruction and death it had caused,” he said.

“We cannot sit by and see the lives of our community put at such an enormous risk for such a proposal.”

The project is planned to be built by 2025. It would see 380 transmission towers through farmland, endangered habitat and communities.

AusNet’s power infrastructure was the cause of two of the deadliest bushfires on Black Saturday in early 2009 — the Kilmore East-Kinglake fire, which killed 119, and the Murrindindi-Marysville fire, which killed 40.

The Kinglake fire was caused when a live power line hit a power pole cable-stay wire, igniting surrounding vegetation. The Murrundindi blaze was sparked by a break in an electrical conductor on a power pole near the local sawmill.

The CFA's battle with the State Government has deepened

The company later settled two class-actions with Black Saturday survivors for a combined $800m.

Moorabool Central Highlands Power Alliance chair Emma Muir said she wasn’t prepared to trust the AusNet proposal.

“Victorians will never forget the role AusNet played in the state’s deadliest fires, and we’re not prepared to trust them this time,” she said.

“If this project goes ahead, communities along that corridor will be waiting for the next major fire to tear through their land. The state government needs to step in and stop AusNet’s towers, to make sure the next story written about our region isn’t about it being wiped off the map.”

Opposition emergency services spokesman Nick Wakeling said it was disappointing the state government’s “war against CFA volunteers continues”. “Daniel Andrews must explain why they are being exposed to life-threatening risks,” he said.

A government spokesman said the project was subject to an environment effects statement which would include assessing any concerns about bushfire risk.

An AusNet spokesman said the company was “undertaking a rigorous and transparent assessment of bushfire risk for this project”.

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