Country Fire Authority
The Country Fire Authority is a volunteer fire service responsible for fire suppression, rescues, and response to other accidents and hazards across most of the state of Victoria, Australia. CFA comprises over 1,200 brigades organised in 21 districts, and shares responsibility for fire services with Fire Rescue Victoria, which employs full-time paid firefighters in major urban areas; and Forest Fire Management Victoria, which manages fire prevention and suppression on Victoria's public lands. CFA operations and equipment are partly funded by the Victorian Government through its Fire Services Levy, and supplemented by individual brigades' fundraising for vehicles and equipment.
CFA was established in 1944 to reform rural fire management in Victoria after a succession of devastating bushfires. Major bushfire responses conducted by CFA have included those in the Dandenong Ranges in 1962 and 1967, the 1965 Gippsland bushfires, as well as 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires, 2009 Black Saturday bushfires and 2019–20 south-east Australian bushfires. CFA brigades have also supported responses at fire events interstate and internationally, especially with the Rural Fire Service and Country Fire Service in neighbouring states of New South Wales and South Australia respectively.
CFA's volunteer brigades are supported by professional administrative and operational staff led by the chief executive officer and Chief Officer respectively, under the management of the CFA Board appointed by the Minister for Police and Emergency Services. CFA previously employed a number of paid firefighters in "integrated" brigades in built-up areas within its jurisdiction; in 2020, these were transferred to the newly formed FRV during highly controversial reforms and in many cases share facilities with CFA volunteers. Forestry plantation companies with operations above a certain size are also required by law to form CFA Forest Industry Brigades.
History
The Country Fire Brigades Board was founded by the Fire Brigades Act in 1890 at the same time as the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Board. The CFBB was given power and responsibility over all fire brigades based more than 10 miles from Melbourne, but largely represented urban brigades in cities and larger towns like Ballarat, Geelong and Bendigo.The CFBB already had a well-established command structure under Superintendent Lieut-Colonel Theophilus Smith Marshall, but the organisation was divided into two very deeply divided and disparate camps – Urban Brigades and Rural Bush Fire Brigades. The CFBB mostly trained for and responded to structural fires in urban areas.
But for the remainder of rural Victoria, Bush Fire Brigades, mostly made up of local landowners received little or no financial assistance from the State Government and tended to operate independently from their urban counterparts.
Following on the calamitous bushfires of 1926, the Forests Commission Victoria, having obtained the co-operation of the CFBB and the Lands and Police Departments, undertook an extensive campaign to encourage the formation and coordination of rural fire-fighting units. The Fire Brigades Act was amended in 1928. Delegations to all country districts were arranged and by 1931, 220 units had been organised in country centres throughout the State, and by 1937 the effective strength of the movement had increased to 320 brigades.
A Bush Fire Brigades Association emerged in about 1914 to represent clusters of ruggedly independent rural landowners and neighbours who formed makeshift brigades that responded quickly to grass and scrub fires in their local farming communities. The Association of Bush Fire Brigades was formalised in 1926 with the support of the FCV. Bush Fire Brigades operated under very different culture, had little formal structure, training or equipment compared to their urban counterparts but these firefighters were passionate, committed and effective volunteers.
But still no state government financial assistance was provided. However, for those close to State forest, National Parks and Crown Land the FCV donated some equipment.
Prior to 1934 all bush fire brigades operated without legal authority or protection. If private property were entered and back fires lit or water taken for the purpose of extinguishing fires, members were potentially open to charges of trespass and damages. Late in 1933 the Bush Fire Brigades Act was passed which provided statutory powers and authority to approved officials of registered brigades. This was a major step forward and conferred considerable powers to the brigade captain. This helped to cement autonomy and gave security for small brigades.
Considered in terms of loss of property and life, the Black Friday bushfires on 13 January 1939 were one of the worst disasters to have occurred in Australia and certainly the worst bushfires up to that time. The 1939 bushfires killed 71 people and burnt 2 million hectares, 69 sawmills, and obliterated several towns. The subsequent Royal Commission conducted by Judge Leonard Stretton has been described as one of the most significant inquiries in the history of Victorian public administration. One of Stretton's key recommendations was to create a single fire service for country Victoria.
The war years then intervened from September 1939, and arguably the legislative reforms recommended by Judge Stretton moved to the back burner.
Then later in the summer of 1943/44 there were more deadly bushfires where 51 people were killed, 700 injured, and 650 buildings were destroyed. In particular, the loss of 13 lives a Yallourn fires on 14 February 1944 and the impact on the State's electricity supplies when the critical brown coal fields caught alight brought these bushfires into sharp focus. There was justifiable public outcry at the lack of government action after the similar events five years earlier in 1939. Premier Albert Dunstan and Forests Minister Albert Lind, who had both delayed legislative changes in Parliament, decided there was no alternative but to ask Judge Stretton to chair a second Royal Commission.
Stretton's report returned to his earlier themes and once again highlighted the lack of cohesive firefighting ability outside the Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade area.
After nearly 6 months of debate in State Parliament, legislation to establish the Country Fire Authority was finally passed in two stages on 22 November and 6 December 1944. The chairman and board members were appointed on 19 December 1944. On 19 December, the State Premier Albert Dunstan announced that Mr Alexander Mercer King of Ballarat was to be appointed Chairman of the CFA Board for the first year, along with 12 members. The Board of the new authority met for the first time shortly after on 3 January 1945. On 2 April 1945, the Country Fire Authority Act came into force, and the previous entities ceased to exist.
The Board then divided Victoria into 24 Fire Control Regions and appointed 17 Regional Officers, but the organisation had very rocky first beginnings. All the existing urban and rural brigades were invited to join the new CFA... most did... some reluctantly... but nobody seemed particularly happy with the new arrangements. Some of the rural brigades were so incensed they proposed an alliance with the Commission rather than ceding autonomy to the newly formed CFA.
Maybe to appease the rival factions, the new CFA Board initially appointed two Chief Officers, with Alexander McPherson representing the urban brigades and Charles Alfred Daw for the rural brigades. McPherson retired at the end of June 1950, leaving Daw as the sole Chief Officer of the CFA.
By the time of the creation of the CFA in 1944 the Forests Commission had, to some extent, been supporting 768 Bush Fire Brigades with 35,000 volunteer members and £100,000 worth of equipment, which then transferred over to the new organisation.
The CFA then took responsibility for fire suppression on "Country Victoria" leaving the Forests Commission to focus on the public land estate such as State forest and National Parks which amounted for the remaining one third of the State.
The legislation also required that each country municipality appoint a "Proper Officer" empowered to permit lighting of fires during the proclaimed summer period and to order removal of fire hazards.
A major revision of both the Forests Act and Country Fire Authority Act in 1958 clearly enshrined the role of the two agencies and the Chief Fire Officers into complementary legislation.
The CFA operates under the Country Fire Authority Act of 1958, as amended, and its regulations. The Act has been amended many times since its initial establishment, most recently in September 2015.
Funding
Since July 2013, fire services in Victoria have been funded by a fire service property levy on council rates. The CFA budgeted income for 2013–14 was $473m, of which $448m was provided by state government contributions, and $25m was internally generated.Additional government funding can be provided for specific staffing or training improvements, major works, or during long-duration incidents. The CFA also receives some funding from the provision of goods and services to external bodies, including Fire Equipment Maintenance. Individual brigades receive further funds from local councils, from their own fundraising activities and through donations from the community. Brigades may invest money to serve as an interest-earning vehicle, providing financial security against fiscal downturns. Some fire brigades hold large amounts of community funds to cover costs not met by CFA. These costs might include, but are not limited exclusively to, additional firefighting equipment, maintenance, improving or replacing facilities and brigade-owned vehicles. Groups and brigades have also worked together with district support staff to provide financial or practical support to brigades and groups in need.