CFA acknowledges that we have had a number of our brigades reporting unavailability overnight and today due to crewing issues.
We are continuing to monitor the situation but want to reassure the community that we have operating procedures in place to ensure that when brigades are offline we can respond neighbouring brigades to protect communities or put in place alternative arrangements.
The safety of life and property is always our number one priority. We expect that our brigades will turn out to protect their communities as they always have done in their time of need.
CFA acknowledges that our volunteers and brigades, many of whom are from rural communities, have had a long summer of fire activity and are facing a lot of pressure as a result of drought which is impacting their livelihoods.
We respect their rights to engage in matters relevant to their local communities, including those who are concerned about the potential impact of the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund.
The Victorian Government has announced that a rebate will apply to all eligible CFA operational and support volunteer members and we will be working with our members to ensure that they are able to seek the information they need to apply for the rebate.
We are proud of the work that our members do to provide critical services 24/7 in protecting their communities.
