FOUR brigades in Victoria’s south east are part of 26 CFA brigades now trained and ready to respond to select medical Triple Zero (000) calls as part of a new program that officially commenced in 2023.
The Fire Medical Response (FMR) program is a joint initiative of CFA and Ambulance Victoria that sees CFA brigades and Ambulance Victoria dispatched simultaneously to cardiac arrests.
Hastings, Phillip Island, Cockatoo, and Emerald fire brigades went live on August 21, with Sorrento and Wonthaggi joining the program earlier in the month. Ultimately, 50 CFA brigades around Victoria will undertake the FMR role in their communities.
Phillip Island Fire Brigade Captain Lino Drazzi is proud of the brigade for stepping up to further assist the community with 24 members trained and ready to respond.
“We’ve got a heap of very keen members that want to help the community and saw the opportunity to be FMR trained as a way we could add something else to our skillset to support our community,” Captain Drazzi said.
“The training has been very thorough and intense over the last six to 12 months.
“The brigade and members are ready and trained to respond in the event of any cardiac arrest that AV may need support with.”
CFA Assistant Chief Fire Officer Sean Kerr said the program was a natural fit for CFA because of the 52,000 volunteers across the state.
“CFA has more than 1100 volunteer fire stations with more than 52,000 members,” Sean said.
“This puts CFA in a unique position to complement the Ambulance Victoria response in 50 locations across Victoria to help deliver early intervention to cardiac arrests.”
Ambulance Victoria Executive Director of Regional Operations, Danielle North, said Victoria has Australia’s best cardiac survival rate and the third best anywhere in the world, thanks to high rates of early intervention.
“The Fire Medical Response program will improve survival rates for people in rural and regional Victoria,” Danielle said.
“Quick intervention with CPR and a defibrillator has the greatest impact on improving a patient’s chances of surviving a cardiac arrest.”
