CFA, MFB deny battling over bushfires

Victoria's two firefighting bodies say they work well together, despite claims the
Country Fire Authority blocked city firefighters from tackling the state's
devastating bushfires.
The CFA and Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) said while some career firefighters were
frustrated that they were not sent out to battle the blazes, the fires were tackled
as well as they could have been.
Emails leaked to AAP accuse CFA management of blocking MFB and CFA professional
firefighters - sometimes for parochial reasons - and incompetently handling the
fires.
MFB chief fire officer Tony Murphy and CFA deputy fire chief Steve Warrington said
they had to protect all areas of the state during the fires of February 7, and that
meant some career firefighters were not deployed to the blazes.
"It is a frustration for firefighters to sit back and not be on the front line," Mr
Murphy told reporters on Friday.
"This whole situation is right around the state, and what we've got to do in the
leadership is make sure the state's in equilibrium. It can't be leaving areas and
pockets unprotected.
"We've gone to great lengths to put that out to our firefighters and get them to
understand ... there's also some fantastic anecdotes, so we need perspective."
Mr Murphy and Mr Warrington said they did not know about United Firefighters Union
(UFU) claims a CFA incident controller at Alexandra told an MFB crew "over my dead
body are we gonna use you".
The emails claimed that during and since the Saturday fires:
* semi-rural Diamond Creek, about 20km from Kinglake, was mostly unprotected;
* career firefighters sat around idle at Greenvale, Frankston, Geelong, Corio and
other CFA and MFB brigades, waiting to be deployed; and
* anger from CFA and MFB firefighters over the use of interstate, overseas and army
troops no more qualified than they were.
The February 7 firestorms have cost at least 209 lives.
However, a former adviser to the Victorian government, Garth Head, cast doubt on the
claims made by the union and UFU secretary Peter Marshall.
He said they were campaigning for a single fire service and more career firefighters
and, as a result, more power, ahead of a royal commission into the fires.
"His union's submissions to the Linton Coroner's inquiry (into a 1998 fire in which
five CFA volunteers died) were in support of ... greater 'careerisation' of the CFA
and dismissed," he said.
The CFA and MFB would not comment on the union's motivations or whether the two
bodies should merge.
"That's a matter for an inquiry. The reality is from our perspective we already work
very closely," Mr Warrington said.
"We won't be deflected by argument that's being had at the moment. Our objective is
the current firefight and recovery phase of it.
"It's fair to say if all the events occurred again next week, we would possibly
change maybe a couple of things, but by and large the same arrangements would stay
in place.
"We're more than happy to sit down with the industrial body, of which there are a
number, and say 'how can we do it better?' (and) learn from that."
Mr Warrington and Mr Murphy denied damaging parochialism was in play during the
firefighting effort, but agreed the MFB was not designed to fight bushfires.
"Since Black Saturday the MFB has had more than half of its workforce involved ...
on the fireline, in disaster victim identification (and other roles)," Mr Murphy
said.
Premier John Brumby defended the CFA, saying it had put in a "magnificent effort".
Mr Marshall did not comment on Friday.