Frustrated Country Fire Authority captains sound alarm over volunteer numbers, budget

Growing numbers of Country Fire Authority volunteers are at breaking point heading into Victoria’s bushfire season, warning the service is in worse shape than prior to the 2019 bushfires.

Desperate Country Fire Authority captains and volunteers have warned they are in a “worse” position than before the horror 2019-20 Black Summer season.

The veteran country firefighters have blasted the state government for funding cuts they say have left the organisation “broken”, describing volunteer numbers falling at a “million miles an hour”.

“The government has spent so much on everything, digging bloody tunnels for these big build projects,” Paul Stanley, Captain of the Limestone Brigade in Victoria’s north east, said.

“You can’t fix something that’s not broken but you can fix something that is broken and the CFA is broken.”

In a scathing email to the Allan government, Mr Stanley warned that pressure had been building within the walls of the volunteer organisation since former Premier Daniel Andrews’ introduced sweeping reforms to merge career CFA firefighters with the Melbourne Fire Brigade to form the state’s new service Fire Rescue Victoria. The email complained that the organisation’s budget had been cut from $807m in 2020 to just $347m in 2023.

Longwood CFA volunteer John Brodie Jnr with fire fighters Paul Redfern, Jason Sloan, John Brodie Snr and Neil Tubb. Picture: David Caird

John Brodie Jnr stands in front of fire trucks that are 28-years-old and 13-years-old. Picture: David Caird

The $13m budget for CFA truck replacements was “a drop in the ocean” compared to the $34bn being spent on stage one of the Suburban Rail Loop, the email stated.

The Allan government told the Herald Sun it was not accurate to draw comparisons between the CFA’s budget before and after Fire Services Reform.

But without an assurance of increased funding, Mr Stanley said the CFA’s future was uncertain.

“Somebody has got to do something,” he said.

“All I want is the best equipment for our volunteers but I don’t see a long term future for the CFA if this continues on.”

Mr Stanley raised concerns about a “long and convoluted” process that often took up to six months to lure volunteers, as well as concerns about ageing trucks.

John Brodie, 25, who has been volunteering with the Longwood Brigade since his 18th birthday, said 2024 was the year budget cuts would likely “start to eat into the operational working of the CFA”.

“Our biggest problem facing the CFA is a lack of funding,” he said.

“From the view of volunteers, the CFA is less organised and in a worse position than 2019.”

Mr Brodie said while previous budget cuts had affected the force’s administration arm, anything further would hurt the “operational side of things”.

“We will begin to see the flow of effects pretty well immediately,” he said.

Volunteer Paul Redfern in the driver’s seat of Longwood CFA’s oldest truck. Picture: David Caird

CFA volunteers says volunteer numbers are in free fall. Picture: David Caird

The Herald Sun this year revealed the number of CFA volunteers had dipped to 28,785, down from 38,335 in 2014-15 and 31,000 in 2019.

Volunteer numbers are also well below the organisation’s target of 35,000 to 37,400 people.

Mr Brodie said that was compounded by a “confusing” registration and training process for potential new members.

“It’s far more bureaucratic,” he said.

“It’s no wonder volunteer numbers are falling. The idea of the CFA being the heart of the community is disappearing.”

Michael Stubbe, a CFA captain from a brigade in central Victoria, said that new volunteers were being made to travel up to 150km at night after work to receive training.

He also questioned why career firefighters in Melbourne were complaining about 15 year old trucks when the country brigade’s situation was far worse.

More than 400 CFA-owned vehicles have been on the roads for 25 years, including almost 200 which are more than 30 years old.

“It only fits three people and the other two or three are strapped on the back,” Mr Stubbe said.

“There is no airconditioning in the truck, so you just have to wind down the window on 40 degree days. It’s primitive.”

CFA chief officer Jason Heffernan said the organisation had 52,000 volunteers across the board, but only 29,000 were operational.

However, the CFA had “never drawn on its full complement of qualified firefighters”.

Mr Heffernan said the time it took to train up volunteers could “vary quite substantially” with the average time ranging from one day to almost three months.

Volunteers say the CFA is in worse shape than when Black Saturday hit. Supplied: Stephen Henderson

The police station in Marysville after Black Saturday. Picture: Mark Smith

Almost half of all open applications were waiting to be approved, with Mr Heffernan stating that “every effort” was made to speed up the training process, with sessions after working hours or on weekends or both.

Nationals MP Annabelle Cleeland, who represents Euroa, said the Allan government appeared to be “hellbent” on destroying the CFA brigades, saying a lack of funding was “a death by a thousand cuts to our selfless volunteer fire brigades”.

“We’ve witnessed disastrous decisions by this government regarding fire management: a lack of planned burns, the closure of the sustainable native timber industry, failure to replace ageing vehicles, and the loss of over 6500 operational CFA volunteers since 2015,” she said.

Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes said the government had delivered “record funding” for the CFA including a recent $46m investment for new tankers, trucks, equipment and station upgrades.

“Our CFA volunteers put their lives on the line every day to protect Victorians and we are incredibly grateful for the work they do,” Ms Symes said.

“They have always had the unwavering support of this government to do this work and always will – with more than 3000 CFA vehicles and tens of thousands of volunteers ready to tackle this season, Victorians can be assured they’ll be well protected no matter where they are.”