Fire Rescue Victoria

What's FRV?

Fire Rescue Victoria.

Oh.

Nice.

Danny rang us about an hour ago near the start of the program to say he'd seen a bin on fire on Elgin Street in Carlton.

Fire Rescue Victoria have told us off here.

They responded to an incident at the intersection of Elgin Street and David Streets in Carlton.

Firefighters arrived on scene within six minutes to find a smouldering rubbish bin containing electronics.

Tool's concern does not appear to extend to the political level.

Nina Taylor, the local member for Albert Park and recently appointed Cabinet Secretary, confirmed by email that she had not spoken with Fire Rescue Victoria about the potential fire and explosion risks associated with the development.

Fires at data centres are rare, but they do happen.

A fire at South Korea's National Information Resources Service data centre in Daejeon on September 26, 2025, triggered a thermal runaway event during a routine maintenance procedure.

So, yeah, it doesn't look good for anyone that lives around there.

Okay, all right, we'll check it out with Fire Rescue Victoria.

Thank you, Cathy.

Bad House Fire in Vermont South, we think eight fire trucks in attendance, as they say.

First, though, Cathy rang us about half an hour ago about a house fire in Vermont South.

I think the house fire was adjacent to a local park.

Fire Rescue Victoria reported or responded to several calls about this house fire this morning.

Crews arrived on the scene within six minutes to find the house fully involved.

That's coming up very soon on the Conversation Hour.

Also, we're going to continue the chat about Fire Rescue Victoria.

Now, for regional listeners who didn't hear Waleed on 774 Mornings, just to catch you up, you'll see online that the ABC Newsroom has done a data crunch.

Residents in growth areas of Melbourne are experiencing worsening responses to fire emergencies when they look at Fire Rescue Victoria data.

I'd like to hear your stories and whether it aligns with what you are seeing and hearing.

The report found that while the volume of the emergency call-outs increased, particularly in these high-growth areas, the number of trucks offline for repair has hit critical levels.

One NFL team turning up a week before, one a day before.

Who do you think? is getting it right.

Operation Richmond commenced in 2018 after IBAC received allegations that between 2016 and 2018, then Premier Daniel Andrews was blackmailed by the Secretary of the United Firefighters Union, Mr. Peter Marshall, during Country Fire Authority Enterprise Bargaining Agreement or EBA negotiations.

IBAC expanded the scope of Operation Richmond to include allegations relating to the negotiation of the former Metropolitan Fire Brigade EBA and the establishment of Fire Rescue Victoria.

While IBAC did not find evidence of blackmail or substantiate corrupt conduct, which must be a criminal offense under our legislation, what we did find is serious and reveals a number of corruption risks that must be addressed.

Some of the key concerning conduct identified in Operation Richmond includes in April 2016, the then Premier authorized then Special Minister of State Mr. Gavin Jennings, with assistance from then Deputy Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet Mr. Tony Bates, to negotiate a backroom deal with the UFU without knowledge of the CFA, then Emergency Services Minister Ms. Jane Garrett or other key stakeholders.

When the CFA board failed to endorse the EBA, they were dismissed and a new board was appointed outside of proper procedure with members the government believed were amenable to follow the government's directions on the EBA.

In 2017 and 2018, the government also filled vacant MFB board positions with members who understood the government's preferred position on the MFB EBA, which they approved in January 2019.

Then, during the establishment of Fire Rescue Victoria, IBAC found Minister Neville's inappropriate stakeholder management of Mr. Marshall enabled his privileged access to her and paired with a lack of transparency, this created a risk of corrupt conduct as Mr. Marshall sought to influence the selection of the FRV commissioner.

In addition, sensitive or confidential information was shared with Mr. Marshall by an MFB board member during this period, and twice by Mr. Bates in 2016.

Firefighting crews attended a gas leak in Deddington late Thursday morning.

Crews from Fire Rescue Victoria were called to an incident in Tilden Street, Deddington at 11.14am after a caller to 000 reported a gas leak.

Firefighters arrived on scene within seven minutes to find a small disruption to the gas line.

FRB crews helped make the scene safe with the gas company in attendance to shut off the gas.

Victoria has become the latest Australian state or territory to acquire a fully electric firetruck.

Fire Rescue Victoria says the new vehicle shaves precious seconds off response times and has the potential to save a lot of money on diesel, as Oliver Gordon reports.

[fire truck siren blaring]

Some of the sounds of this firetruck are very familiar.

So, um, the truck's running now, uh, and what you'll notice is there's no sound.

So y- we get a little beep to say that the, the truck's ready, uh, but that's it.

Fire Rescue Victoria's Craig Brownlee is in the cab of the organization's first fully electric firetruck.

So in, in comparison to a diesel when you start it, yep, they're noisy.

And as we know, so much of Victoria has been burnt in fush-- bushfires.

We are going to be talking to Gavin Freeman, the Commissioner of Fire Rescue Victoria, and asking him what this means for you and the season ahead for where you are.

Call me and also text as well with your questions.

I'd like to know what you want me to ask him.

So I think, you know, uh, w- we don't wanna let complacency fall in or, um, think that we can sit back on our laurels there.

Really is important that- Um, householders look after the piece of land that they have control of, make sure it's, it's tidy, cleaned up, they have a bushfire plan for it.

And in terms of, um, response agencies, we have, you know, well-coordinated, uh, um, agencies and arrangements through Emergency Management Victoria and with the Country Fire Authority, Forest Fire Management Vic, and of course, uh, in the more built-up areas, Fire Rescue Victoria.

You're listening to Gavin Freeman, who's the Fire Rescue Commissioner on The Conversation Hour.