The number of career firefighters in Wyndham has been boosted, with the CFA assigning four recent graduates to the area.
Hoppers Crossing will receive two new firefighters – Geelong’s Andrew Ellise and Daniel Bourke from Glen Waverley.
Geelong’s Nick French and Torquay’s Chris Brown have been posted to Point Cook.
The men were among 25 firefighters to graduate from the CFA’s Fiskville Training College late last month.
Their postings to Wyndham come as the Point Cook station was forced to revert to a volunteer response last Tuesday night, a day after a suspicious fire at a children’s playground at Point Cook, because career firefighters were not available to work at the station.
It is believed that no career firefighters were available between 6pm, Tuesday, and 8am the next day. The CFA maintains that the station was not closed as a result of the staff shortage, saying that it reverted to volunteer manning.
A spokesman said two career firefighters from Point Cook had been redeployed to Hoppers Crossing. The spokesman would not say why the firefighters had been sent to another station.
He said there was no danger to the public, and at least two brigades would have responded to any emergency that may have arisen.
“CFA always responds with at least two brigades to virtually every incident,” he said. “Point Cook was well protected by CFA firefighters who maintained service to the community.”
