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CFA surge capacity: volunteers deliver 50,000hrs in fire fight

Thousands of CFA volunteers have been called in to fight three major fires in Victoria this summer, as the Allan Government looks to hand FRV more territory.

Fire crews prepare to defend Beaufort during the Bayindeen fire. Picture: Mark Stewart
Fire crews prepare to defend Beaufort during the Bayindeen fire. Picture: Mark Stewart

Victoria’s reliance on the CFA’s surge capacity has come to the fore again this summer with 7300 volunteers called out to 1400 fires and other incidents between February 13 and March 1.

The CFA reported 700 CFA tankers and other appliances responded to the major Bayindeen, Grampians and Dereel bushfires, while hundreds of others extinguished fires before they threatened lives and property.

While brigades are still in the process of finalising their fire reports, the CFA estimates 2072 volunteer firefighters completed 2845 12-hour shifts on the Bayindeen fire alone – equating 34,140 hours.

Initial estimates of volunteer efforts across all three fires is 4055 shifts or almost 50,000hrs.

The cost of sending career firefighters to these three campaign fires would have been almost $4 million in wages (at $960/shift), plus that amount again in travel, overtime, accommodation and an array of other allowances.

Yet the Allan Government has instigated a Fire Districts Review Panel process that is set to grant FRV even more CFA territory.

In January, CFA chief officer Jason Heffernan lodged a submission with the review panel warning “we cannot downplay the importance of the unique value of CFA”.

“A CFA brigade provides more firefighters, more appliances and is more closely positioned to neighbouring brigades to meet community demands than the alternate on-shift career model,” he stated.

The CFA has already been stripped of 38 stations, which were transferred to FRV in July 2020.

The review panel has identified 13 more areas where FRV’s boundary of service delivery could be extended to cover existing CFA territory around Eaglehawk, Kangaroo Flats, Edithvale, Berwick, Carrum Downs, Hampton Park, Narre Warren, Epping, Werribee, Wyndham Vale, Ballarat, Sebastopol and Wendouree.

Chief Heffernan said the CFA brigades servicing these areas had the capacity and capabilities needed to keep their communities safe, were viable, and continued to contribute broadly to building social capital.

He said the CFA model provided “an unrivalled and critical surge capacity in Victoria and is agile – being able to flex up within minutes to respond to major campaign fires and other significant events (such as flood) while also maintaining normal day-to-day service delivery. The strength of this model has been evidenced for over 150 years.”

CFA chief officer Jason Heffernan, speaks to media at the State Control Centre. Picture: Nicki Connolly
CFA chief officer Jason Heffernan, speaks to media at the State Control Centre. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Over the past month Chief Heffernan said volunteer brigades had travelled from all over the state to help fight the three main incidents.

“Our crews have worked tirelessly around the clock for the past few weeks to protect Victorians and will continue to do so,” he said.

Southwest Merino volunteer group officer Wayne Munro said: “We got huge support from outer Melbourne – such as Lilydale – and from all over the state.”

But time spent fighting the Grampians fires, undertaking night shifts at the Horsham incident control centre and as divisional commander at Beaufort, working two 14hr shifts, have taken their toll on Mr Munro and his family.

“The biggest impact is on family, because after night shifts, you’re knackered the next day,” Mr Munro said, with his wife taking up the slack on the farm.

Over at Casterton, local CFA Captain Lee Condon – who also manages three of Vickery Brothers fertiliser, concrete and sand supply businesses – said he and most of the 10 workers in the company who are volunteers dipped into their accumulated time-off-in-lieu to attend fires.

As of last Friday, Mr Condon said the brigade had attended 20 fires in the past week, which meant volunteers sacrificing a lot of time away from the family.

“We do it for our community,” he said.

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Original URL: https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/victoria/cfa-surge-capacity-volunteers-deliver-50000hrs-in-fire-fight/news-story/f01262b42accb4a474005963549542ca