Union claims under-resourcing led to delayed Melbourne fatal fire response

The United Firefighters Union says under-resourcing meant crews arrived "too late" to a fatal fire in Werribee yesterday. Three-year-old Jordan Dashwood died and his father suffered serious burns in the house fire. The union says the only fire truck at the nearest station had already been called to a job when the fire was reported. The Victorian firefighters union says under-resourcing prevented crews from arriving sooner at a house fire in Werribee yesterday which claimed the life of a child. Three-year-old Jordan Dashwood died after a fire started at the boy's family home in Newbury Street just after midnight. The first fire crews on scene, from the Country Fire Authority (CFA), arrived more than nine minutes after the fire was reported and Fire Rescue Victoria crews arrived several minutes later. Fire Rescue Victoria has a target response time of 7.7 minutes. The United Firefighters Union said the nearest fire station to the house has only one fire truck, which had already been deployed to another incident. Union secretary Peter Marshall said firefighters had been calling for a second vehicle at the station for ten years. He said crews would have responded to the incident well within the target response time had they been better resourced. "The reality is that that particular house fire is very close to the fire station. "We've actually seen another fire truck having to come from, I think it was Point Cook, which arrived in about ten minutes. That's just too late." Mr Marshall said a senior officer at the Tarneit fire station called him to express his dismay at the situation. "You can imagine [he] was extremely upset given the fact that the very thing he had been worried about for some time had come to fruition," he said. The Victorian government was contacted for comment. A list of incidents issued by Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) on Monday morning claimed "crews arrived on scene within three minutes". On Monday evening, however, the fire service acknowledged it had taken longer, with a spokesperson confirming "while FRV crews arrived promptly, this was not within the 3 minutes initially noted". The spokesperson said the original list of incidents which listed the three-minute arrival time had since been recalled. "In line with Victoria's complementary fire services model, the closest available resource responded, which meant CFA crews were first on scene," the FRV spokesperson said. "FRV resources arrived on scene as soon as they became available. "Our thoughts are with the family and loved ones of the child who tragically died."