Victoria’s firefighting services are currently pegged to receive a quarter of the $1.5 billion they need to upgrade and replace their fleet, but have scaled back budget requests in recent years, the state’s auditor-general has warned.
In a new report published on Wednesday, the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office (VAGO) also detailed how widespread cracking forced half of the state environment department’s fleet to be removed from service during the last fire season, and that maintenance of Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) trucks had doubled in three years – further reducing availability.
While the maintenance load on FRV has largely not affected performance times so far, with trucks moved between stations to maintain coverage when others weren’t available, the report said significant and sustained funding was needed to keep pace with upgrade and replacement needs of the FRV, Country Fire Authority (CFA) and the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA).
“Fire authorities collectively need around $1.5 billion from 2024-25 to 2033-34 to make sure their fire trucks are fit for purpose, reliable and safe,” Auditor-General Andrew Greaves said in the report.
“But they only have around $390.4 million identified in current funding and future grants.”
The figures are based on current funding, and do not include election pledges such as the 150 fire trucks Labor has committed to if returned to government in November.
The CFA previously said it needs $962.7 million to replace 1657 trucks beyond their estimated useful life over this period, along with other modifications, while FRV needs $297.3 million to replace 153 fire trucks that are more than 15 years old. Another $216.6 million would be needed to replace 676 fire trucks at DEECA, including those that already have cracking.
Funding requirements for the state’s two fire services have been outlined in their own plans, while the department’s needs have been estimated by VAGO using previous contracts.
FRV budget bids between 2024-25 and 2026-27 would have made major progress in funding the replacement of their trucks, the report found. But the initial bids were significantly pulled back after the Victorian treasurer asked ministers to scale funding requests in line with their efforts to reduce debt and return to a surplus.
In the 2024-25 budget cycle, FRV asked for $158.9 million which would have paid for nearly half of their fleet improvement requirements – a figure scaled back to $14.1 million in their final bid, representing 4.7 per cent of their total need over the decade.
To make the most of the smaller funding pool, FRV has focused on replacing trucks well past their recommended shelf life of 15 years. This financial year, it requested $20.7 million to replace 12 trucks that were more than 15 years old, with the oldest 31 years old.
The CFA has opted for much smaller funding requests, but its final budget bids have recently been higher than their initial proposal. However, even when they requested $103 million in 2025-26 – significantly higher than other years – this still represented 14 per cent of their total need over the decade.
The VAGO report said the massive funding commitment needed by the CFA had been outlined to the government through a detailed plan.
Major repairs limited the availability of aerial appliances (fire trucks with ladder platforms) in 2025-26, Greaves also found. These trucks were only available 57.3 per cent of the year on average, with problems including electrical faults, parts delays and repairs to cracking.
The report also provided further detail on widespread cracking across DEECA’s forest fire trucks, revealing the department first identified cracks beginning in G-Wagen trucks from 2017, and Unimog fire trucks from 2020.
The issue was only exposed publicly at the end of 2025 after the problem became so widespread that DEECA had to remove 54.4 per cent of its fleet from service for the 2025-26 fire season.
A major effort to inspect, repair and return trucks meant DEECA was able to meet its performance standards in January, but the department continues to find cracking in both truck models.
Premier Ben Carroll said on Wednesday that the report “clearly shows we have more work to do” and that the findings were why he had committed more money to the fleet.
Labor last week committed $167 million if re-elected to put towards 150 new trucks by 2030, including 50 for FRV and 100 for the CFA.
“We have addressed a lot of what VAGO has said by changing the manufacturing, changing the type of fleet [and] taking any unroadworthy vehicles off the road.”
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