Statement from Fire Rescue Commissioner

Attributable to the Fire Rescue Commissioner, Gavin Freeman AFSM

I share the concern of our firefighters and the community when trucks are taken out of service. Having said that, as with all vehicles, mechanical issues can and do occur.

When critical issues are reported, they are actioned swiftly. We do not hesitate to take a fire truck out of service when required.

If a station temporarily loses a truck because it requires repair or maintenance, we make use of our spare appliance pool and vehicle and crew movements to ensure the community is well protected.

Appliances that are taken out of service for repair are not released from FRV workshops and reintroduced to FRV’s fleet until they are safe and fully operational.

When a fault is reported, FRV has established procedures to diagnose, triage, and repair the appliance so it can be redeployed as soon as practicable.

It would be disappointing if industrial bodies put blanket bans on fire appliances. There are established processes in place for addressing occupational health and safety concerns about appliances where they arise, both under safety laws and our Enterprise Agreement.

Individual firefighters may refuse to use a certain piece of equipment, if they have a reasonable concern about an imminent risk to their health and safety, but they must immediately report the fault and follow the established procedures.

FRV’s medium to long-term planning is based on a target fleet replacement age of 15 years but Victorians should know that fire trucks do not expire simply because they reach a certain age. These appliances are specially built and can remain in service for long periods, depending on their usage and workload.

Firefighter safety, and that of other first responders and the community, is paramount. I want to provide clarity about the status of our firefighting fleet and outline what FRV is doing to maintain, modernise and replace our fire trucks.

While FRV has more than 200 fire trucks in operation, I want to assure Victorians of the investment being made to upgrade our firefighting fleet right across Victoria. In recent months, FRV welcomed two new Pumper Platform trucks into our fleet, stationed at Mildura and Warrnambool, with a third expected to join them at Shepparton in the coming weeks.

In the 2024-25 Victorian Budget, $15.4 million is being invested for five new Pumper Platform trucks, fitted with the latest fleet technology. I am also working with the government to ensure our fleet is modernised and we have an annual allocation of funding to purchase new appliances.

Last August, FRV took delivery of Victoria's first electric fire truck – the Electric Vehicle for Incident and Emergency, or EVIE for short. In addition to EVIE, in December, FRV took delivery of seven new appliances.

There are a further 20 appliances – including the five Pumper Platforms announced in the Budget – in various stages of project build. This brings the total number of new vehicles in the pipeline for FRV to 28, with many expected to arrive over the course of this year.

The pipeline from ordering a fire truck to deployment as part of FRV’s fleet is extensive. This process begins with design and consultation before contracts are awarded and the appliance is built to FRV specifications. Once an appliance arrives at FRV, it undergoes rigorous quality assurance checks, and we deliver comprehensive firefighter training before it is allocated to a station and deployed to its first job.

This process is highly complex and can take up to two years for a single fire truck to be delivered to FRV. It involves many people and teams within FRV and extensive collaboration with organisations outside FRV, all of whom work with us to meticulously plan and coordinate each project.