By Victoria Stone-Meadows
The proposed restructure of the CFA and MFB has caused anxiety among the members of the Pakenham fire brigade according to Officer-in-Charge Jim Dore.
Mr Dore, who is in a paid role with the CFA, said the changes proposed by the State Government have left the volunteers at the integrated station with no clear idea of their future.
“The reaction is not good,” Mr Dore said.
“The volunteers are concerned the changes will change whole demographics of the area.”
Pakenham has been an integrated fire station since 2014 with paid and volunteer CFA members operating from the same station for just under three years.
According to Mr Dore, the volunteers at Pakenham are concerned that having two separate organisations working together will lead to conflicts when firefighters are called out to incidents.
“It won’t change that much day to day because people will always protect their community but it will change in who has control on the fire ground,” he said.
“With the changes, the permanent staff will be employed by Fire Rescue Victoria and at the moment there is one chain of command where in the future there will be two chains of command.”
The Fire Services Statement, which lays out the overview of how the restructure will work, says that volunteers can make up their own minds whether to stay in the integrated stations or move to a different location.
Mr Dore said volunteers at Pakenham are unsure where they will end up under the new system and a lack of detail in the policy is causing concern.
“At the moment they will meet again and through consultation decide if they remain at 780 Princes Highway or take into consideration the other options they will be given,” he said.
“They won’t be removed from the CFA and the government have allocated funds for new stations if needed so they might move.
“The volunteers might choose to go to the station at John Street or choose to build another station somewhere else, but I don’t think that is likely.”
Emergency Services Minister James Merlino visited integrated stations in the south-east on Sunday 21 May to answer questions and alleviate concerns but Mr Dore said it wasn’t enough.
“A number of questions were asked about things that hadn’t been worked out yet and there was no meat on the bones of the policy,” he said.
“I believe the decisions have been made and this was a consultation on a decision that’s already been made.”
Volunteer firefighters at the Pakenham fire station declined to comment on the restructure.
