Priority One: Strengthen CFA as a volunteer firefighting organisation

What success looks like at year 5

Success statement

The Year 2–5 Implementation Plan defined success at year 5 for Priority One as:

CFA has the capability and capacity to deliver consistent high-quality services to the Victorian community through a contemporary operating model. The professional services delivered by CFA across the spectrum of prevention, preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery are of the highest standards and informed by contemporary research and best practice. The professional skills of our firefighters and their connections with the communities they serve will strengthen our volunteer-based emergency service into the future.

Actions under this priority

Priority One had 7 implementation actions for the CFA to acquit.

The actions below were developed to operationalise and embed practices and outcomes that ensure the CFA remains a strong, proud, flexible and sustainable volunteer-based organisation.

Findings and considerations

Measuring against the success statement

At the end of the Year 2–5 Implementation Plan, we note that all required implementation actions were acquitted and consider the CFA has made a positive contribution to the objective delineated in the success statement, with the foundational supports required for long-term success in place.

The Priority One actions focus on the heart and strength of the CFA – its volunteers. The actions aimed to support volunteers to continue serving the community with the backing of the highest standard of equipment, support and training.

Overall, the completed actions have set a successful foundation for the CFA to continue building on the capability of its volunteer brigades to serve their communities and respond across a range of emergencies throughout the country area of Victoria (CAoV).

We highly commend the CFA on its significant work to improve its volunteer lifecycle and encourage the CFA to continue listening to, and acting on, the voice of its volunteers in improving on the successes it has achieved under the Year 2–5 Implementation Plan.

Stakeholder engagement

Action 1.1 was designed to reinvigorate the strategy and approach to engagement across the various stakeholders that the CFA interacted with, including its staff, volunteers and the communities it services.

The CFA Engagement Framework comprised a series of plans and approaches that guided the implementation of its mission, vision and organisational strategy. The framework was based on the Victorian Government’s Public Engagement Framework 2021–2025[1]and included principles for best practice engagement tailored for the complexity and impact of projects on volunteers. The volunteer engagement checklist and matrix for assessing the impact on volunteers stood out as particularly useful tools to guide project leaders when determining the level and type of engagement required. We understand the overall effectiveness of the framework will continue to be monitored through the CFA Executive Committee.

Since acquittal, the CFA has seen increases across a range of stakeholder engagement indicators measured through quarterly and annual reporting against its Outcomes Framework. In particular, we note the positive trend across the following indicators:

• 1.2.1 Increase in the number of community members engaging with CFA (quarterly)
• 3.4.32 Increase in staff engagement – All Staff Briefing survey (quarterly)
• 1.2.2 Increase in direct engagement of community members engaging with CFA from locations and households at higher risk (annual)
• 3.4.31 Increase in staff engagement (annual).⁹

At year 5, we highly commend the CFA on the broad positive growth across all its engagement activities and encourage the CFA to continue building on these achievements to establish stronger trust and confidence within its staff and volunteer workforce and the communities it serves.

Volunteer lifecycle

Actions 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 and 1.6 were designed to develop and enhance the volunteer lifecycle across engagement, recruitment, training and support.

Volunteer support

Improvements to the quality of support over the volunteer lifecycle were the objectives of actions 1.2 and 1.3. These actions involved multiple projects that collectively enabled:

• improved recruitment and volunteer transfers between CFA brigades
• volunteer access to information
• information sharing between volunteers and guidance for volunteers’ families
• insights into brigade capability
• networking opportunities
• a culture of connectedness through branded workwear.

Since acquitting the Volunteer Recruitment and Retention Program (action 1.2), the CFA has advised that significant improvements to the Volunteer Recruitment Hub, as informed by end-user feedback, were implemented in May 2025, and we understand that, to date, the CFA has effectively managed more than 22,000 applications from prospective members.

Action 1.3 required the CFA to deliver the Volunteer Support Package, which had 6 deliverables.¹⁰

The acquittal report provided to us noted the CFA Pocketbook application, workwear project and Volunteer Recruitment Hub were completed, with the hub release 4 made live in October 2024. The Brigade Capability Review led to the Baseline Capability Profiling Application,¹¹ which has been live since April 2023.¹² The application transitioned to business as usual (BAU) during the 2022–23 reporting period, and we understand that the first phase of Digital Store is available to all volunteers.

Since acquittal, we have been informed that an external review of volunteer recruitment and onboarding has been commissioned, with the intent to inform enhancements for the Volunteer Recruitment Hub and strengthen the volunteer experience across those phases of the volunteer lifecycle. This review is expected to be completed by the end of 2025. Also, the supply of workwear for volunteers has been transitioned to BAU and the Digital Stores will continue to be upgraded over time.

Volunteer training

Improvements to volunteer competency and capability were delivered through the revising the crew and strike team leaders training courses (action 1.4)¹³ and the Enhanced Training Capacity for New Volunteers project (action 1.6).¹⁴

The crew leader and strike team leader training courses were amended to ensure they were fit for purpose. The course equips emergency response teams and leaders from response agencies with the skills needed to respond to high-stress situations and effectively manage teams in complex settings.

The acquittal report and subsequent information provided to us noted the completion of the new strike team leader course in November 2024 and the new crew leader course in January 2025. The CFA also advised that course delivery would transition to BAU at the regional level and that the courses would be reviewed as part of the CFA’s scheduled review program.

As at 30 June 2025, the CFA advised that 395 crew leaders and 59 strike team leaders had completed the training.

The Enhanced Training Capacity for New Volunteers project delivered the refreshed General Firefighters (GFF) course, which is the training provided to new members to enable safe participation at turnouts under supervision.

The acquittal report advised that the updated GFF version 2 course began being delivered in October 2024 and has since transitioned to BAU. The GFF version 2 course incorporated digital assessments and online modules to enable greater flexibility and accessibility for members and will be the subject of ongoing periodic review.

The CFA also advised that the GFF version 1 course continued to be delivered until March 2025, ensuring continuity for members who started that version and that issuing personal protective clothing (PPC) for those who completed the GFF course will be managed as part of BAU at the district and state levels.

As at 30 June 2025, the CFA advised that 1,262 members completed the GFF course over 2024–25.

Volunteer feedback

Across all these improvements to the volunteer lifecycle, the CFA gave examples of how volunteer feedback has informed and contributed to improvements across its initiatives and projects.

Such feedback included functional limitations of the Volunteer Recruitment Hub during early iterations that challenged the user experience. We were advised the hub is now received positively by administrative staff, new volunteers and brigade management team members following the CFA’s action on the feedback. The CFA acknowledges there is ongoing work needed to improve the functionality of the hub.

Other examples included wearer trials of PPC and safety boots and the design of the junior brigade website. Important insights were also gathered from volunteers on the CFA’s ultra heavy tanker capability that was deployed in a strike team configuration in major bushfires in western Victoria in late 2024. This has since informed operational effectiveness.

The CFA also advised us that all volunteers engaged in CFA training are invited to provide feedback on the quality of the course, which is used to inform course design. We acknowledge that while feedback may not yet be available for the revised crew and strike team leader courses, the following observations from the GFF course will likely apply.

We received a copy of the review conducted on the GFF in 2023–24 and saw that it included data from those members who either cancelled their enrolment or did not progress through the course for at least 12 months. We encourage the CFA to continue actively engaging with those who do not complete their training on time to identify and address potential barriers to completing training.

The CFA has highlighted overwhelmingly positive feedback received on its GFF version 2 course – in particular, the flexible delivery approach that enabled theory to be undertaken at the user’s own pace with practical training tailored to brigade schedules, as well as the engagement of local brigades in supporting new recruits with locally delivered training.

At year 5, we highly commend the CFA on its work to enhance support for volunteers across the lifecycle. In particular, the information provided by the CFA on how it elicits volunteer feedback and uses this to make improvements to initiatives and systems shows the CFA’s capacity to operate as an organisation that is built on the real-life experience and voice of its volunteers.

Brigade information and communications technology

Action 1.5 was designed to improve critical volunteer-facing ICT systems across the CFA to support online training and improve communications between brigades, regions, districts and headquarters.

Under this action, the CFA committed to deliver its Connected Brigades Project, which provided secure and standard internet services across the CFA’s brigades. We note that all the CFA’s brigades were invited to be involved in the Connected Brigades Project but that not all opted to do so.¹⁵

As reported in our 2022–23 annual report, of the 1,211 CFA brigades, 1,038 opted to be involved and received connectivity in 2022. After further consultation by the CFA with the remaining 173 brigades, a second tranche of 115 brigades subsequently opted in and 110 were connected. The acquittal report (June 2023) noted that internet connectivity will transition to BAU and be serviced through the provider contract and that further work will involve reviewing the viability of satellite connection for the 5 remaining brigade sites.

The CFA also reported that the 58 brigades that did not opt in to the program indicated that they would either not use internet services, were not connected to power or had insufficient network access in the CAoV.¹⁶ The CFA advised us that the National Broadband Network (NBN) Fixed Wireless network upgrade is assisting it to upgrade 224 sites over the next 8 months, from 4G to Fixed Wireless, which enables faster download speeds, including during busy periods. There are currently 7 stations that have not sought to be connected, but the CFA continues to install services at fire stations and satellite stations when requested.

We note the completion of this action enabled member access to a range of online tool and services, including:

• Members Online
• Learning Management System
• Volunteer Recruitment Hub
• Fire Incident Reporting System (FIRS) to report incident turnouts
• CFA Microsoft 365 including CFA email.¹⁷

Since acquittal, we were advised that the remaining 5 brigades (which increased to 6) that opted in for the second tranche were provided with 4G services as a result of Telstra’s coverage expansion. Unfortunately, the 4G service has only been effective for 50% of this cohort, so the CFA will connect the remaining sites to the NBN Sky Muster.

We commend the CFA on its implementation of the ICT improvements across most of its brigades and understand that ICT improvements have allowed members to perform their roles through modern ways of working, including considering prospective members through the Volunteer Recruitment Hub, submissions of incident reports through the FIRS, and accessing policy, doctrine and other operational information (such as wellbeing services).

We understand the government is delivering the Connecting Victoria program and fast-tracking telecommunications infrastructure to improve internet connectivity across regional Victoria, which may alleviate network access in the CAoV. Notwithstanding, we encourage the CFA to continue exploring avenues, including satellite options, to enable modern ways of working across all its brigades so all their members have access to the same level of support through centralised systems and platforms.

Operating model

Action 1.7 was designed to support the CFA in being a more contemporary and sustainable organisation through a review of its operating model and the development of a roadmap of 29 initiatives for implementation over the coming 5 to 6 years.

We also note that this action has important cross-intersections with other actions in the Year 2–5 Implementation Plan, including:

• Action 4.7 – Develop a scope for leadership roles that reflect contemporary brigade and group models
• Action 5.2 – DJCS, with input from CFA and FRV, undertake a review of current state service delivery capability and capacity requirements in CFA and FRV and key issues and risks
• Action 5.4 – Develop a Strategic Workforce Plan for operations with a strong focus on regional and remote delivery of services
• Action 5.7 – Capture the operational costs incurred to deliver fire services in Victoria based on 3 years of financial reporting
• Action 5.8 – CFA and FRV to ensure internal budgets consider the funding estimates over the forward years provided by the Victorian Government

The acquittal report for this action noted the Operating Model Program, which was endorsed by the CFA Board in March 2023, would be overseen by the CFA Executive, with an annual review to determine initiative prioritisation and funding for each year. It also reported that 10 initiatives were endorsed by the CFA Executive to be progressed in 2023–24 and that they were on track as at 30 June 2024.

The CFA advised us that since acquittal many of the 10 initiatives have since been completed. The CFA is currently considering the next phase of work.

At year 5, we commend the CFA on its progress in delivering initiatives from its Operating Model Program, which was a significant undertaking and involved extensive work at a time of organisational upheaval. The broad scope of plans to restore the CFA to a proud volunteer firefighting agency has already assisted the CFA to meet this goal and we are confident that further work under the Operating Model Program will consolidate and build on these changes.

Footnotes

1. FSIM, Annual Report 2023–24, Monitoring 'in progress' actions.
2. FSIM, Annual Report 2022–23, Progress of Action 1.2.
3. FSIM, Annual Report 2024–25, Action 1.3.
4. FSIM, Annual Report 2024–25, Action 1.4.
5. FSIM, Annual Report 2022–23, Progress of Action 1.5.
6. FSIM, Annual Report 2024–25, Action 1.6.
7. FSIM, Annual Report 2023–24, Monitoring 'in progress' actions.
8. Refer to the Victorian Government’s Public Engagement Framework 2021–2025.
9. CFA, Q4 Outcomes Framework – Annual Report 24–25, p. 1.
10. Action 1.3 deliverables as listed in the Appendix.
11. The FSIM’s Year 3 Annual Report noted the application enables the CFA to assess brigade capability gaps and to provide information on demographics, land-use and community characteristics.
12. Year 2–5 Implementation Plan. Progress Summary – Quarter 1, 2024–25 (at 30 September 2024).
13. Action 1.4 deliverables as listed in the Appendix.
14. Action 1.5 deliverables as listed in Monitoring progress of actions, FSIM, Annual Report 2022–23.
15. Country Fire Authority ‘Brigades get connected as project rollout begins’ 17 July 2019. Accessed 1 September 2025.
16. FSIM, Annual Report 2022–23.
17. Country Fire Authority Annual Report 2022–23, p. 28.