DESPITE claims of support for the thousands of CFA volunteers ahead of this month’s second catastrophic fire day, numbers of fire ready volunteers continues to decline, according to the Member for Polwarth in the state’s south west, Richard Riordan, the Shadow Minister for Emergency Services.
In a statement today, while areas to his north battled through a scary ‘Catastrophic’ fire danger day, Mr Riordan claimed the Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes was still unable to confirm when the 48 heavy tankers promised to regional CFA brigades would be delivered, when addressing State Parliament last week.
“The Allan Labor Government has admitted that only 15 of the 48 tankers promised in 2020 are currently in service and remained vague as to the final delivery timeframe for the remaining vehicles,” Mr Riordan said.
“The inability to deliver these essential trucks continues to put CFA volunteer lives at risk and reduces response times and capacity for rural communities.
“Constant claims of poor equipment and infrastructure support coupled with hard to access training for Victoria’s volunteer firefighting force has seen its standing volunteer base reduce by nearly 10,000 since the Labor began its FRV reforms under the guidance of United Firefighters Union chief Peter Marshall.”
Mr Riordan, said:
“As one of the most fire prone regions in the world, Victoria must have a strong and vibrant volunteer firefighting force to help protect communities and assets across Victoria.
“With thousands of CFA volunteer hours focused for more than a week on the Beaufort fires, weary crews will be looking to this year’s State Budget to show genuine support for the outstanding efforts of our CFA brigades and will expect the Allan Government to allocate more resources for equipment and volunteer-friendly training.”
The electorate of Polwarth lies to the west and south-west of Geelong and covers 8860 square kilometres, taking in the Colac Otway and most of the Corangamite and Surf Coast local government areas. Along the coast it follows the Great Ocean Road from Torquay through Aireys Inlet, Lorne and Apollo Bay and around Cape Otway to Port Campbell. Further inland, the electorate includes Winchelsea, Colac, Camperdown and Cobden.