Today the Country Fire Authority (CFA) is releasing its emergency response data from the first quarter of the 2020/21 financial year.
The most recent data from 1 July to 30 September 2020 showed CFA brigades responded to 6,016 incidents, of which 2,143 required an emergency response.
For 83 per cent of incidents that required emergency response, the community received a fire service within the standard response time.
There was a reduction in incidents compared to Quarter 1 in the 2019/20 financial year, when CFA responded to 9830 incidents, of which 5013 required an emergency response. The reduction is partly due to 38 career CFA stations and associated response areas transitioning to Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) on 1 July 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated periods of restricted movement and gathering across Victoria was also a contributing factor. Because data is drawn from a smaller sample size this also impacted overall response times as single incidents where the target was not met has a bigger impact on the overall result.
CFA Chief Officer Jason Heffernan said the data highlighted the hard work of CFA firefighters, who are now all volunteers.
"Behind these results we find the hard work and consistent service of our volunteers who continue to respond to emergencies such as grass and bushfires, structural fires, HAZMAT incidents, road accidents, rescue incidents and more to keep the Victorian community safe," he said.
"I'm proud of the way they were able to continue to do that throughout the worldwide pandemic, which led to significant lockdowns in Victoria during this quarter."
Tragically, three people died in residential fires in CFA areas during the period.
"This is a sobering reminder as we move towards the colder months, when residential fires can be more prevalent," CO Heffernan said. "We encourage everyone to install smoke alarms in all recommended areas of their homes and to check the batteries regularly," he said.
The results: Quarter One (July - Sept) 2020/21
In CFA's response area, the Customer Service Delivery Standard compliance rate was 83 per cent. This rate is a measure of the first truck arriving on scene, regardless of brigade area.
The Quarter One figures show CFA brigades continuing to perform well across a variety of urban and rural environments, including:
- CFA responded to 82 per cent of emergency incidents in significant urban areas within the standard response time of 8 minutes.
- CFA responded to 79 per cent of emergency incidents in all other urban areas within the standard response time of 10 minutes.
- There was no data to report for fires in areas with predominantly natural surroundings, as no CFA brigade areas had 10 or more emergency incidents in a rural area.
Response data is reported by Hazard Class, which defines the risk type for a given area. Each brigade area may contain multiple Hazard Classes. Each Hazard Class has a Service Delivery Standard, which is a predefined response time target for brigades attending emergency events.
