District Country Fire Authority (CFA) captains have been advised the local CFA office in Bairnsdale will be temporarily closed to the public for periods over the next few weeks, and phone calls may be diverted to other regions.
Gippsland East Nationals’ MP, Tim Bull, said this was a disgraceful outcome on the cusp of a fire season forecast to be worse than average.
“Just weeks ago in Parliament, we were told by the State’s fire chiefs that the landscape was drier than normal in many areas and with a forecast of a higher incidence of storms, fire risk was above average this summer and
communities needed to be vigilant,” Mr Bull said.
“Now, just a fortnight later, the CFA captains receive an email saying the office will be closed at times and calls may be diverted. On any scale this is simply not good enough.
“East Gippsland is officially recognised as being in the top three most fire prone areas in the world and the local CFA office front door will be closed as summer commences. It sounds like an episode of Utopia.”
Mr Bull said he was advised the issue stems back to a secondment agreement between Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) and the CFA, and under that 2020 agreement, the CFA must secure all its paid firefighters from FRV.
However, some positions were never filled and whenever someone goes on leave, or is unable to work, the situation worsens as holes are created and not filled.
“The reason is irrelevant, it is simply bureaucratic rubbish that does not consider the community. Locals should be able to walk into their local CFA office and talk to a person face to face at this time of the year, not be greeted with locked doors because someone is away.
“A CFA spokesman was reported in the media saying this ‘would not impact CFA’s operational response and ability to protect their communities’. Rubbish! When the door is locked and calls are diverted, it most certainly does impact your response to the public.
“I called on the Minister, in Parliament, to step in and sort the mess out.
“This is in a period where CFA operational volunteer numbers have plummeted under Labor. In the past few years, the CFA has lost 2192 operational volunteers, leaving it unable to gain the strike teams it requires for campaign fires.
“And this while the Government has allowed bush fuel loads to again reach an all-time high due to a lack of fuel reduction burning.
“The Labor Government has overseen a massive reduction in operational volunteers, major fuel load increases and now cannot even keep the doors open or have the phone answered at the office in one of the most fire prone areas in the world.
“When we struggle to control fires to the level, we should be able to, this Government will have to take some responsibility for its complete mismanagement.”
