Fire Rescue Victoria Has Missed Emergency Response Targets Every Year Since 2020, With Outer Suburbs Worst Affected

Fire Rescue Victoria, established in 2020 to replace the Metropolitan Fire Brigade and absorb 38 former Country Fire Authority areas, has missed its 90 per cent structural fire response benchmark for 21 consecutive quarters, achieving the target only once — in the September quarter of 2020. The agency's worst-performing stations are concentrated in outer growth corridors, with Caroline Springs meeting the benchmark in just 44 per cent of cases, followed by Tarneit at 58 per cent and Point Cook at 67 per cent — most of them former CFA stations. The fatal Werribee fire that killed Jordan Dashwood highlighted the operational risk of single-appliance stations: Tarneit's only truck was at a car crash, meaning the first vehicle arrived after 10 minutes and the FRV truck after 11 minutes, both well outside the benchmark. FRV's budget has grown 33 per cent since 2020 to $1.227 billion, but the increase has been driven almost entirely by a near-$200 million rise in employee expenses, and the United Firefighters Union argues no new stations have been built and no new communities brought inside the FRV district. The state government defends its record, saying FRV's response times have improved over the past year and are faster than any other state, while former emergency management commissioner Craig Lapsley says the agency needs new trucks and crews to keep pace with population growth and rising demand for medical and road-crash responses. The UFU is currently negotiating a new pay deal and is campaigning against the re-election of the Labor government ahead of November's state election, adding a political dimension to the dispute.