FRV fails to report fire-related deaths, while CFA publishes every quarter

Fire Rescue Victoria has been accused of playing games with people’s lives, refusing to release regular details of fire-related deaths.

Reporting fire-related deaths is not only the ultimate measure of a fire service, CFA volunteers say it hits home with the public on the need for smoke alarms.

Fire Rescue Victoria has been accused of playing games with people’s lives, refusing to release regular details of fire-related deaths in metropolitan Melbourne and regional cities under its control.

Every three months the CFA reports the number of fire-related fatalities in its regions to Victoria’s Fire Services Implementation Monitor Niall Blair.

Even the former MFB meticulously detailed fire fatalities and made them public, up until it was merged with 38 CFA stations to from FRV on July 1, 2020.

But since then FRV has failed to supply data on fire-related deaths each quarter to the Government’s independent monitor and initially dodged questions from The Weekly Times on the issue.

FRV was asked why fatality data was not being made public, given most Victorians would expect that preventing fire-related deaths was one of the most important performance measures of a fire service.

Initially FRV claimed the fatality data was in its 2020-21 annual report, but a quick check showed it only referenced the total number of deaths across the whole state — FRV and CFA zones.

After repeated questioning FRV told The Weekly Times on Monday the “preventable fire-related fatality figure for 2021-22 was 12”.

An FRV spokesman said “fire fatalities was not a measure of the FRV year one outcomes framework”, “however, it has been introduced as a year two measure”.

Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria chief executive Adam Barnett said FRV needed to be measured on the same standards as the CFA and report fire-related deaths to Mr Blair each quarter.

“Rather than focusing on seconds’ difference in truck response times, they should be reporting on measures that matter far more to the community – such as fatalities,” Mr Barnett said.

Maindample volunteer firefighter Mary-Anne Egan, who is engaged in CFA community safety work in the Benalla region, said “people need to hear about deaths to realise how critical it is to safeguard their homes – from installing smoke detectors and keeping the drying at least a metre from heat sources”.

The CFA has reported 11 fire-related deaths in the nine months to March 30, compared to nine deaths in 2020-21.

The CFA’s aspirational target is for zero fire fatalities and injuries in its zones of control and has told the monitor it is developing a suite of tools to curb the loss of life and hospitalisations.