History
The Fire Brigades Act 1890 created two boards, a Metropolitan
Fire Brigades Board (MFBB) for the Metropolitan Fire District
and
a Country Fire Brigades Board (CFBB) to embrace the nine County
Fire Districts. The Act laid the foundations for the CFBB giving
it extensive powers and responsibilities of fire brigades based
more than 16 kilometres from Melbourne. The CFBB officially came
into being on 1 January 1891.
In 1926, the Bush Fire Brigades were formed following serious
bushfires. They consisted entirely of volunteer members, were administered
by the State Forests Department, had only scant power to carry out
fire prevention measures and received little or no financial assistance
from the Government.
Following serious fires across Victoria in 1939, a Royal Commission
recommended a single firefighting organisation for country Victoria.
The devastation of the 1944 fires emphasised the urgency of better
coordination of country fire services. Legislation was passed to
establish a country fire authority and the Country Fire Authority
(CFA) commenced operation on 2 April 1945.
CFA has now evolved to become one of the world's largest volunteer
based emergency management organisations and has been involved in fighting a number
of major fires, including the Ash Wednesday
fires.
There are currently more than 1,200 CFA brigades servicing the operational
areas throughout regional Victoria (except state forests and parks)
and outer metropolitan Melbourne. In recent times, CFA's responsibilities
for responding to urban and transport risks have grown substantially.
Key dates at a glance…
- 1 January 1891 – The Country Fire Brigades Board (CFBB)
formed
- 1926 - Bush Fire Brigades formed
- 2 April 1945 - Country Fire Authority (CFA) commences operation
See also...
- Firefighter's Memorial - to remember those Firefighters who died responding to a call for help in the line of duty with the CFA and its predecessor organisations, the Country Fire Brigades Board and the Bush Fire Brigades Committee, prior to the formation of the CFA
- CFA Medals - medals awarded to volunteers and career staff for their contributions and efforts throughout their dedicated service in CFA
