Country Fire Authority
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 The CFA Logo |
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| Established: | 1945 |
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| Regions: | 20 |
| Specialities: | Combatant Authority for Fire, Rescue and Hazmat |
| Volunteers: | ~60,000 |
| Paid Staff: | 1,200 |
| Brigades: | 1275 |
| Location: | Victoria, Australia |
| Website | Official CFA Website |
The Country Fire Authority, or CFA, is the name of the fire service that provides fire fighting and other emergency services to all of the country areas and regional townships within the state of Victoria, Australia, as well as large portions of the outer suburban areas and growth corridors of Melbourne not covered by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade.
CFA, as it is commonly known, draws the majority of its officers and members from the local community on a volunteer basis.
CFA is one of the world's largest volunteer based firefighting organisations. It services more than 150,000 square kilometres and 2 million people, and currently has approximately 58,000 active volunteers with more than 400 career fire fighters and 700 career support staff.
There are over 1200 brigades (1023 rural and 252 urban), with more than 2300 vehicles across twenty regions in nine areas. The vehicles are made up of nearly 1300 Tankers, 240 Pumpers, seven Aerial Appliances, thirty Rescue Units and various other special purpose and Command and Support vehicles. This fleet is supplemented by over 730 brigade owned vehicles. Brigade owned vehicles are bought and paid for by the individual brigades and communities to allow extension of brigade fire fighting capability.
Funding is largely provided by Fire Service Levies charged by insurance companies, and in part by appropriations from the Victorian State Government.
CFA currently operates under the Country Fire Authority Act of 1958 and its amendments. This legislation was bought about by significant bushfires during the period 1939-1944 which killed 114 people and destroyed nearly 1400 homes while also damaging large areas of the state and destroying significant amounts of stock. Subsequent investigations showed the lack of a cohesive fire fighting agency outside the central metropolitan area and the CFA was born on 2nd April 1945. Many of its brigades however were established in the 1800s or early in the 20th century.
The CFA has been involved in a number of major fires over the years where lives have been lost including Ash Wednesday fires in 1983 and the Linton bushfire in 1998.
