Country Fire Authority
Rikkie-Lee TYRRELL (Northern Victoria) (12:45): My question today is the Minister for Emergency Services. The new fire medical response program began on 27 November. This involves several CFA units in our region of Northern Victoria, trained to provide expert assistance at certain medical emergencies, including reports of cardiac arrest. Can the minister explain more about this program and its life-saving work?
Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:45): Thank you, Mrs Tyrrell, for your question. I know you are a huge supporter of the CFA, so thank you for your interest in the fire medical response program. The CFA has worked closely with AV on this program. It is a joint initiative between the two agencies and is really designed to ensure that CFA brigades, who are highly trained, are able to be dispatched simultaneously to cardiac arrests with their nearest ambulance. As you indicated, there are some brigades in our electorate that have put their hands up, and it is an optional program. The Euroa captain Damon Rieusset said that the decision to join the program was an easy one and a chance to make a life-saving difference in rural and remote communities. We know that our CFA volunteers are amazing community people. They really go above and beyond to respond to those in need. This is really about picking up on that motivation and ensuring that they are supported and trained to respond.
What will effectively happen is that, through their work, TZV and AV will be able to identify appropriate instances where the CFA can be notified as a first responder to join the ambulance response, which is particularly welcome in rural and remote areas, where obviously there are often more CFA stations around, which might be able to respond quicker. As I said, it is an optional program. There has been a lot of interest in it, and I do thank those brigades that have put their hand up in relation to the program. I am more than happy to get you some more information, particularly as it rolls out. I am interested in hearing about the experiences of the brigades. It is anticipated there will be around 10 responses per brigade per year, so it is not something that we are expecting to be a daily occurrence, but it is a wonderful addition to the emergency response collaboration here in Victoria.
Rikkie-Lee TYRRELL (Northern Victoria) (12:47): I thank the minister for her response. While the nine currently signed-up CFA units is a good start, does the government have plans to expand the program to all units in Victoria?
Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:48): Thank you, Mrs Tyrrell. Yes, there are nine brigades that are about to go live, then I have got a list of another 19 that will be next. I can give you, perhaps after question time, that list. There are about four in our joint electorate that you might be interested in. The CFA tell me that there is continued interest from other brigades. As I said, it is optional. This is for brigades that want to add this to their responding capability and service to their local community. It will not be for every brigade and certainly, as I said, it is not an expectation, but there is huge interest in it. As I said, we have got nine on the books, 19 to go, and I suspect that there will be more.