Some local fire brigades fail to meet response target

THE Country Fire Authority has released its response times for the third quarter of 2017-18, which have revealed the Torquay, Lara and Geelong West brigades have fallen behind in meeting the standard.

In the response time map for the Geelong region between January and March, which is available on the CFA website, the three brigades are marked as meeting the eight-minute response time less than 60 per cent of callouts.

The Torquay and Lara brigades had similarly bad response times in the second quarter of the financial year.

In contrast, Belmont, Geelong City, Leopold and Grovedale met the target at least 90 per cent of the time in the third quarter, while Grovedale met the target between 60 per cent and 89 per cent of the time.

All the other brigades in the region attended less than 10 Code 1 incidents, so data for them is not available.

For CFA brigades, the standard compliance rate is 88 per cent. This rate is a measure of the first truck arriving on scene, regardless of brigade area.

Speaking to local media, CFA assistant chief for the South West region Rohan Luke said brigades not meeting the target were getting help.

“We support the brigades by increasing their volunteer numbers, sometimes the location of their station with population growth can be adjusted, and we also use neighbouring brigades to provide assistance and support to those brigades that from time to time may struggle in their response times.”