JUNE 18, 2024: Threat to strike a disappointing intervention

Australian Firefighters Climate Alliance‘s statement on CFA brigades anti-renewables strike

It has been reported in the media that ‘at least 24 CFA brigades are taking strike action, refusing to fight fires on land hosting high-voltage transmission lines, solar or wind farms, over what they call the Victorian Government’s “reckless renewables expansion”.

The Australian Firefighters Climate Alliance (AFCA) strongly disagrees with the group of CFA brigades who are taking action over a politically weaponised topic like the energy transition. While we always support the calls for greater clarity around Standing Orders (SO) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), and advocating for better firefighting safety, we do not believe this has to come at the expense of the energy transition away from fossil fuels.

As volunteer firefighters we are proud to serve our communities. We go to any and all call outs, at any time of the day. Whether it is a car fire, house fire, a gas leak or a wildfire, our job is to get on scene quickly and work with our colleagues to make the fire ground safe for the community and put the fire out as quickly as possible. This commitment to the greater good means that firefighters are deeply trusted by the community. One of the great things about volunteering is that it brings together people from all walks of life and political persuasions. It places community safety and cohesion above day-to-day politics.

We at the AFCA consider ourselves to be pro-union, and will always support workers and volunteers advocating for their safety, and better working conditions. However, the AFCA disagrees with the brigades who are trying to weaponise a duty of care they have to their communities, for the sake of political impact.

The AFCA is a grouping of grassroots volunteer and career firefighters who understand the link between climate change and worsening fire seasons and who want to see our governments take meaningful action to reduce Australia’s contribution to global warming.

We remember the fire in the Hazelwood coal mine that burnt for 45 days and needed many hundreds of firefighters to put it out. While we oppose continued use of fossil fuels such as coal and gas, we would never consider limiting our response to fires involving facilities like coal mines, coal and gas power stations, and we regularly attend events involving leaks of fossil gas.

To rule out responding to an emergency because we don’t like that particular form of fuel would be an extraordinary betrayal of the trust that the community puts in us because it puts politics above community safety.

Firefighting carries an inherent risk and AFCA supports and demands that firefighting authorities create policy and procedure, and an operating culture, that minimises risks to those fighting fires.

Sadly there is misinformation being presented about renewables in some news reports, for instance the claim that ‘renewables increase the risk of fire in regional communities’. Modern wind farms have to ensure a Bushfire Risk Assessment is carried out before construction and that they meet CFA Guidelines. It can be argued that because of their nature, wind farms can assist in firefighting because they require good road access to all turbines and other infrastructure. It must be noted that fire in renewable facilities is rare and generally very localised. With the rise of storage batteries, electric vehicles, and grid and household scale renewables, we acknowledge that firefighters are facing new challenges. But we are also facing the fact that climate change is turbo charging fire conditions and we are learning to adapt to that new reality. Firefighting is, and always has been, adaptive and responsive to changes in the external environment.