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WorkSafe investigates CFA fleet safety after oldest fire truck reaches 37 years
🇦🇺 Australia /Disasters & Emergencies

WorkSafe investigates CFA fleet safety after oldest fire truck reaches 37 years

From ABC Australia · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Under investigation
  • WorkSafe Victoria is making ongoing inquiries into safety risks linked to the Country Fire Authority’s aging fleet of single-cab tankers.
  • The CFA Volunteers Group sought the investigation after repeated calls for more funding and equipment, saying some trucks are no longer fit for purpose.
  • The CFA operates about 1,400 primary tankers, including a 37-year-old vehicle serving the Muckatah Brigade, while government officials defend recent funding and fleet upgrades.

WorkSafe Victoria has begun examining the Country Fire Authority’s aging fleet after volunteer representatives asked the regulator to investigate the safety of single-cab tankers.

The CFA Volunteers Group contacted WorkSafe in May, saying repeated requests for better equipment and more funding had not produced a sufficient response. WorkSafe told the ABC that inspectors were making “ongoing inquiries to ensure health and safety risks are being adequately addressed”. Inspectors have met CFA officials at the authority’s Melbourne headquarters and visited several regional brigades.

We have to recognise these trucks are no longer fit for purpose and are no longer safe.

— John HoustonThe CFA Volunteers Group president explained why the group asked WorkSafe to investigate the older tankers.

The group’s president, John Houston, said volunteers faced risks both inside the cab and on the back of the truck. Single-cab tankers carry three crew members in an enclosed cab, compared with up to six in a modern dual-cab model. Houston also pointed to the lack of air conditioning in the older cabs and argued that the trucks were no longer safe or fit for purpose.

We believe that these concerns deserve some kind of independent scrutiny. It seemed to be the only course of action we could get some response from.

— John HoustonHouston described the group’s decision to approach the workplace safety regulator.

The CFA Volunteers Group said the backlog of outdated tankers had grown steadily over the past decade. Its data showed 225 new primary tankers were registered to regional brigades between 2016 and 2025, compared with 453 delivered in the previous 10 years. About 1,400 primary tankers serve 1,209 regional and peri-urban brigades, and the Muckatah Brigade’s 37-year-old tanker is the oldest still in CFA service.

Emergency Services Minister Paul Edbrooke acknowledged that the vehicles have a limited life span and said he was open to discussing fleet management with the CFA chief officer. A government spokesperson said the authority was stronger and better funded under Labor, with a new truck being deployed every four days. The CFA is providing WorkSafe with information and access to vehicles and documents.

If the CFA chief officer wants to talk about how we maybe manage the fleet, I'm more than open to those discussions.

— Paul EdbrookeThe emergency services minister responded to concerns about the fleet’s age and management.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Australia in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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