This report is published in accordance with the Fire Services Implementation Monitor’s (FSIM) functions, as outlined in section 141 of the Fire Rescue Victoria Act 1958. It provides commentary on the Country Fire Authority’s (CFA) and Fire Rescue Victoria’s (FRV) respective outcomes frameworks results for the fourth quarter of the 2023-24 financial year.

In this quarter, CFA reported on all 36 quarterly and annual outcome metrics (see Appendix A) and FRV reported on 41 quarterly and annual outcome measures (see Appendix B).

FSIM has reported on select results against the below criteria:

• demonstrates a notable achievement:
  • CFA: Increase in the number of volunteers involved in corporate governance arrangements at regions and districts (indicator 4.2.1).
  • FRV: Successful recruitment and retention of women firefighters (measure 3.2.1f).
• continuing off-track trend over repeated quarters:
  • CFA: Decrease average time spent suppressing structure fires (time spent on scene of incident) (indicator 2.2.3).
  • FRV: Percentage of response to structure fire incidents within 7.7 minutes (target 90 per cent) (measure 2.1.3a).
• significant change from the previous quarter (positive or negative):
  • CFA: Decrease in workplace injuries (staff and volunteers) (indicator 3.1.2) – reflecting a positive change.
  • FRV: Total operational fleet availability (measure 2.1.3b) – reflecting a negative change.

Issues impacting data quality and data availability

Data quality for some FRV measures is impacted by industrial action in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 financial years. FRV advise that data quality for impacted measures is expected to improve from Q1 2024-25 onwards, provided there is no further industrial action. However, data quality for measures that are reported as a rolling 12-month average will still be affected in 2024-25 where there are overlaps with the industrial action time period.

Reporting on certain FRV measures is also impacted by the unavailability of Australian Incident Reporting System (AIRS) and Firecode data. FRV anticipates that AIRS data will be available for reporting from Q1 2024-25. In the interim, FRV continues to use validated Triple Zero Victoria (TZV) Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) data to report on impacted measures.

FRV further advise that FireCode will not meet its previously reported restoration timelines of June 2024 and September 2024, and that Firecode is now expected to be restored in November 2024. FRV notes that the restoration of Firecode by November 2024 could be further impacted by a range of factors. In the interim, FRV will use an alternate system to report on impacted measures from Q1 2024-25 until Firecode is restored for reporting.

FSIM notes that nearly two years on from the December 2022 cyber-attack, FRV continues to work on restoring impacted systems and using interim solutions to report on impacted measures. FSIM will continue to monitor progress and looks forward to FRV fully restoring its two impacted systems for reporting on its quarterly outcomes results.

CFA: Increase in the number of volunteers involved in corporate governance arrangements at regions and districts

CFA reported a significant increase in the result for this annual indicator against the two-year baseline.

In 2023-24, 2,175 CFA volunteers were involved in corporate governance arrangements in regions and districts. This is an increase of 154 per cent against the two-year baseline of 858. CFA attribute this increase to factors such as improvements in data capture, focussed development of committees and broader engagement of volunteers due to an expected higher level of seasonal risk.

FRV: Successful recruitment and retention of women firefighters

FRV has recorded the highest result for this measure since reporting commenced in 2021-22.

In 2023-24, FRV recruited 19 new women firefighters and maintained a 100 per cent retention rate of these new recruits.

The recruitment and retention of women career firefighters is a key action for FRV in the Year 2-5 Fire Services Reform Implementation Plan.

FRV continues to implement its Gender Equality Action Plan 2022-2025 and progress policies and programs which support the wellbeing and inclusion of women firefighters across their employee lifecycle. This includes the Women’s Support Coordinator program, which provides tailored support and guidance to all new women recruit firefighters through the recruitment and onboarding process.

This program was recently recognised at the 2024 Emergency Services Foundation’s Diversity and Inclusion Awards, winning the Women’s Equality Initiative award category.

CFA: Decrease average time spent suppressing structure fires (time spent on scene of incident)

CFA has not met the baseline for this indicator since Q2, 2022-23 (Figure 3).

CFA recorded a result of 77 minutes and 40 seconds this quarter. This is an increase of 17 minutes and 21 seconds on the quarterly baseline of 60 minutes and 19 seconds.

As noted previously, there are many factors that can influence this result that are not easily evaluated quarter-on-quarter. These factors include fire progression at time of arrival, structure type, timeline of support services such as utilities, and the presence of hazardous materials.

CFA advised that this quarter’s result was impacted by several complex structure fires, including in factories, double-story residential dwellings, and in shopping complexes, impacting multiple buildings.

FRV: Percentage of response to structure fire incidents within 7.7 minutes (target 90 per cent)

FRV did not meet its target of 90 per cent for the fifteenth consecutive quarter.

This quarter, FRV responded to 88.4 per cent of structure fire incidents within 7.7 minutes (Figure 4). While FRV did not met its target, this quarter’s result is the highest recorded result since Q1, 2022-23.

FRV note that while the number of reported structure fires was similar in Q3 and Q4 2023-24, the overall demand was 8 per cent less in Q4 compared to Q3 2023-24. FRV attribute this decrease in overall demand to increased availability in the system and improved response times in this quarter.

FRV also advise that work is underway to review its current capability and capacity and to identify practical interventions that will deliver improved response times.

CFA: Decrease in workplace injuries (staff and volunteers)

CFA recorded a positive change, with 45 workplace injuries reported against the quarterly baseline of 71.4.

This is an improvement on the Q3 result of 72 workplace injuries against a quarterly baseline of 99 (Figure 5).

FRV: Total operational fleet availability

FRV did not meet its target of 85 per cent fleet availability this quarter.

FRV recorded a result of 84 per cent fleet availability for metro-only appliances this quarter. This is 1 per cent short of FRV's target and 6 per cent lower than the Q3 result of 90.3 per cent. FSIM further notes that the overall annual result for this measure is 87 per cent for 2023-24.

As FSIM has previously reported, protected industrial action taken by some CFA staff meant that FRV could not access fleet availability data in the regions for formal reporting. CFA advise that weekly reporting of FRV fleet availability in the regions recommenced when in-principle agreement was reached in March 2024 and the industrial action ended. However, FRV advise that they could not process fleet availability data in the regions for formal reporting in Q4. FRV have therefore reported data availability for metro-only appliances for the entire 2023-24 reporting period, including for Q4, and advise that 2023-24 fleet availability data cannot be compared to 2022-23 data.

CFA and FRV advise that this industrial action did not impact on appliance-related emergency response or related activities.

Definitions

This is CFA’s outcomes progress report for Q4 2023-24. This progress report includes results against CFA’s quarterly and annual outcome metrics.

This is FRV’s outcomes progress report for Q4 2023-24. This progress report includes results against FRV’s quarterly and annual outcome metrics.