Bendigo FRV protester says old equipment risks community safety

John Gawthrop, one of a handful of Bendigo professional firefighters who joined a protest outside state parliament in Melbourne on Thursday, said the age of Fire Rescue Victoria's fleet was a major issue for the protesters.

Bendigo's professional firefighters, who are employed by Fire Rescue Victoria, all work out of station 73 in Hargreaves Street and service a "primary area" of Bendigo CBD and surrounding inner suburbs, while also assisting CFA units further afield.

"From a local point of view, we've got two trucks in particular that are quite old," Mr Gawthrop said.

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"One of them is our BA van, which is used to provide breathing apparatus equipment support to both FRV and the CFA, and that appliance is about 37 years old."

While the truck was largely retired, a Ford Ranger being used to replace it had its own mechanical issues, during which the van was brought back.

"Quite honestly, I do have it in the back of my mind that someone's going to get hurt at some point because it's a very old truck," Mr Gawthrop said.

Travelling long distances, as the crew sometimes needed to do, was a particular concern.

"I've driven that truck myself and I absolutely hate it. The steering wheel shakes and you can barely see at night."

Mr Gawthrop said FRV firefighters were also worried about the station 73 ladder platform - one of only a few such pieces of equipment around the state, which is used for fire-related incidents and rescues, and was "coming on about 20 years old".

The ladder has recently been used in fighting a commercial shed fire at Strathmerton and the rescue of a woman who slipped into the Bendigo Creek.

"It's not uncommon for it to need to be sent away because it has cracks in the outrigger arms, which is concerning," Mr Gawthrop said.

Most troubling to him, though, was the overall lack of a plan for the replacement of equipment locally and across the state.

"That's probably what causes a lot of angst. The problems keep stacking up," he said.

Whether fighting fires in their primary area or supporting volunteers, FRV firefighters wanted to be properly resourced to do the job, Mr Gawthrop said.

"If we don't have the right gear - if we've got an ageing fleet that's not performing to the standard that we require it to, then it puts us all at risk, and ultimately puts the community at risk, and that affects our morale, which takes a big hit," he said.

"We don't need that on our conscience."

United Firefighters Union Victoria estimated 800 to 1000 firies turned out for the October 19 rally, which followed a similar Spring Street protest last month called after the breakdown of talks between the union and FRV over the firefighters' enterprise bargaining agreement.

The union has knocked back an August offer of a three per cent per year pay rise over four years with upfront payments of $7000 to many firefighters, but union delegate Brenton Smith from Ballarat told the Advertiser that pay wasn't the main issue for the protesters.

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"The government, or FRV, are trying to make it all about pay to make it seem as though we're greedy," he said.

"However, what they're not telling the general public is that there's a lot of things contained within that agreement, such as firefighter safety, such as new equipment, such as minimum crewing on fire trucks, and that's what we're not giving in over."

The state government has had a difficult relationship with the UFU since Labor won office in 2014. The current EBA dispute, which is now before the Fair Work Commission, has been running for more than two years and saw the union campaigning against the government in marginal seats at last year's Victorian election.

Mr Gawthrop said the idea the firefighters were "just chasing money" couldn't be further from the truth.

"You ask any firefighter. All they care about is going to work, being able to do their job safely and to the best of their ability, and more importantly, come home," he said.

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