Housed in outdated sheds that are no longer fit for purpose, the volunteer organisations are struggling to make upgrades like the addition of female changerooms.
A move to a joint new home could be the solution, and has gained support from the Coalition.
Heathcote SES controller Darren O’Connor said an ordinarily simple concreting job at its facilities took four-and-a-half years due to the onerous bureaucracy of being located on Crown land.
Furthermore, due to being on a floodplain, it had been rejected for grants, such as one it recently sought to build female changerooms.
“It shouldn’t be that hard,” Mr O’Connor said.
“Our time should be spent training and educating communities rather than worrying about this bureaucracy stuff.”
He said the CFA had also outgrown its site in terms of membership and was facing barriers to adding female changerooms due to the outdated site being non-compliant.
“To attract volunteers, you need good facilities,” Mr O’Connor said.
“Volunteerism is slowing down these days. Any help you can get is valuable.”
The SES and CFA work together closely on many jobs.
“It makes sense to have the emergency services all together as well … you might be able to get joint volunteers,” Mr O’Connor said.
“We have a good working relationship. When our building flooded, they opened their doors and let us use their facilities, no questions asked.
“It also saves taxpayers as well maintaining one building with shared facilities.”
Heathcote CFA requested a meeting with Victorian Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes in March.
The Coalition supports the creation of a $6 million dedicated emergency services centre in Heathcote so the CFA and SES could be co-located in town.
The Nationals Candidate for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland said the investment would benefit both the community and volunteers who were an essential part of Heathcote’s emergency response.
“The Heathcote CFA shed is incredibly outdated and there are serious health and safety concerns with the existing site, and currently the SES shed is dealing with their own flood clean-up,” Ms Cleeland said.
“This co-location model in Heathcote will improve communications and provide the very best facilities for the amazing Heathcote volunteers.”
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