Country Fire Authority 2021-22 annual report shows volunteer number decline

With summer already here, new Country Fire Authority figures show hundreds of firefighters have left in recent years.

Hundreds of volunteer firefighters have left active service in recent years, new Country Fire Authority figures reveal.

More than 54,000 operational and support volunteers were on the CFA’s books in 2020-21 but last financial year, that headline figure dipped below 53,000.

The CFA 2021-22 annual report was one of dozens of audits and annual reports released by the state government yesterday, five days out from Christmas.

The annual report confirmed that 29,084 operational volunteers were part of the CFA in 2021-22, down from 29,582 operational volunteers in the 2020-21 financial year.

Support volunteer numbers were also down from 24,604 in the 2020-21 reporting period to 23,721 last financial year.

CFA volunteer numbers are down across Victoria.

Overall volunteer numbers slid from 29,582 to 29,084 statewide.

The latest data comes more than two years after the State Government restructured the Metropolitan Fire Brigade and its overlapping territory with the CFA to form Fire Rescue Victoria in July 2020.

CFA chairman Greg Wilson acknowledged the impact of the structural reform in his annual report foreword.

“We continued to monitor CFA’s operational capability in the wake of the fire services reform and to work through remaining issues,” Mr Wilson wrote.

“We are pleased that a number of collaborative committees and working groups have been established between Fire Rescue Victoria and CFA to ensure the arrangements between the two agencies are clear and well documented.”

A spokeswoman for Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes said: “Victoria’s fire services are well resourced and regional communities should be in no doubt they are kept safe by our amazing firefighters.

“Our volunteer and career firefighters put their lives on the line every day for our safety and we’ve backed these tireless efforts with more than $200 million in capital works funding and $126 million for training and equipment.

“Becoming a CFA volunteer is an incredibly rewarding experience — anyone interested in how they can volunteer and give back to their community should contact their local CFA brigade.”

When asked by reporters about the large scale tabling of reports on Tuesday, Premier Daniel Andrews said the synchronised mass release was due to a shortage of public sector auditors in recent months.

“Some reports were tabled prior to caretaker (period) and the balance will be tabled (on Tuesday),” the Premier said.

“As a matter of record the Auditor-General informed us and government departments informed us there is a shortage of auditors across the public sector right across our nation.”