Fire service reforms are long overdue

BY MINISTER FOR POLICE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES LISA NEVILLE

OUR fire seasons are getting longer every year.

In the 2018/19 fire season, there were more than 4,800 fires burning across our state between the beginning of December and the end of April.

As our environment changes, the challenges around fire are becoming greater – which is why we need to do all we can keep to Victorians safe.

We want to ensure our fire services have everything they need to perform the vital task of protecting the lives and property of Victorians – no matter where they live.

Reforms to Victoria’s fire services are long overdue. They operate under systems and structures that have not changed since the 1950s. The time for change is now.

Victorians want to know the CFA will remain a vital part of their communities, and our firefighters want certainty so they can get on with their jobs.

We took to the last election our plan to deliver a modern fire service for all Victorians and now, we’ve put this before the Parliament. We want to make these changes a reality so that Victorians can have confidence in the future of our fire services.

We’re creating a new agency (Fire Rescue Victoria) for all paid firefighters. FRV will lead firefighting in Melbourne and major regional centres from a network of stations that will be staffed by career firefighters – 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

CFA volunteers serving at one of the state’s 38 career and integrated stations will be able to remain at that station if they choose, co-locating with Fire Rescue Victoria services under the new and necessary altered boundaries.

Our 1,220 volunteer CFA brigades will be untouched, continuing to serve their communities day-to-day as they have always done and will still provide vital surge capacity during major emergencies. Anyone who claims otherwise is wrong and doesn’t understand the legislation.

CFA volunteers are the best people to make decisions on behalf of their communities during times of emergency. And when those calls come in, they consistently show bravery, commitment and selflessness. This will not change.

We need to be honest about what the demands will be in two, 10 and 20 years from now.

Melbourne’s population has outgrown the traditional boundaries that our agencies were organised according to and our regional centres are getting bigger every year.

We also need to understand the risks. Firefighting is dangerous work and we acknowledge the enormous sacrifices all firefighters make for our safety. That’s why it’s so important that we make it easy for firefighters to get compensation for cancer claims. These reforms include new laws to make sure eligible firefighters claiming compensation won’t have to prove that firefighting is the cause of their cancer.

Over the next 12 months, we’re going to work closely with volunteers and fire agencies to ensure no operational disruption during the next fire season and that we’re ready for the new arrangements to be in place well before the 2020- 21 fire season.

We’re already making big investments to give all firefighters (volunteers and career) the tools, training and facilities they need now and in future. The next step is getting the structure right so they can operate smoothly and respond to the complex challenges of a growing population and a changing climate.