State must look at the cost of the CFA THE real question that should be asked is why has it taken so long for a review into the fire services? We can all read how the Country Fire Authority has 55,000 volunteers and is the biggest volunteer base fire service in Australia but in the world of reality its not like this. The real number of active volunteers is somewhere around the 15,000 mark and they do a top job. The review is not targeting them. However, lets look at some cold hard facts. Fiskville training centre is going to cost the state millions and millions of dollars because of the systematic poisoning of firefighters, members of the public and the environment. Millions of dollars has been wasted on fire appliances that are not fit for purpose and sit idle for years. Protective equipment is purchased for members who never go to fires; urban volunteer stations that have hundreds of thousands of dollars in public money stashed away; a management system that believes all is well and needs to be forced to accept things are not (eg Fiskville) and the list goes on. The small minority of true believers out there would have you believe there are no problems with the CFA and this is just a big push from the UFU. But I believe that the Emergency Services minister has got it right. Just what we read in the papers is frightening enough without the real facts coming out. Maybe it is time for the CFA to return to its roots and only look after the rural areas of the state and leave the urban areas to the professionals. Wayne De Little, Mildura The real number of active volunteers is somewhere around the 15,000 mark and they do a top job