At least one staff member from Victoria’s firefighting service has been forced to use their own money to refuel an emergency vehicle after their government-issued card was declined.
Fire Rescue Victoria has confirmed it is investigating the cause of the embarrassing bungle, but did not answer questions about how widely the problem has spread.
The incident comes amid skyrocketing fuel prices caused by the war in the Middle East, with the card reportedly declining earlier this week.
The Age has seen an email from a Fire Rescue Victoria business manager requesting stations check the expiry dates on appliance fuel cards to check which ones are active.
A Fire Rescue Victoria spokesperson said the emergency service was aware that some fuel cards “recently had issues”.
The spokesperson said Fire Rescue Victoria was examining why the problem had occurred and was taking steps to ensure it did not happen again.
“Our people are entitled to be reimbursed for expenditure incurred on behalf of FRV,” they said.
The fuel card bungle comes as the cost of fuel soars across the nation. The cost of diesel in Melbourne exceeded $3 a litre at some stations on Friday. Unleaded prices reached as high as $2.60 a litre in the most expensive cases.
Daily average retail diesel prices in Melbourne rose by 59¢ from 178.9¢ to 237.9¢ between February 20 and March 11 this year.
Opposition Fire Rescue Victoria spokesman Nick McGowan said the opposition was united in ensuring both volunteer and career firefighters had the best equipment available.
He confirmed a firefighter in Ocean Grove had been left to foot the bill for filling the tank of a vehicle when the government-issued payment card was declined.
“Our firefighters should not be left with the bill nor impacted in how they financially support their families – simple as that,” he said. “Firefighters should never be held back by administrative failures. When an emergency hits, every system supporting them must work without question.”
United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall said the incident pointed to a wider failure of leadership and priorities.
“Firefighters should never be in a position where they are paying out of their own pocket to keep trucks on the road,” he said. “You cannot cut corners in emergency response and hope for the best.”
The state government was contacted for comment.
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Benjamin Preiss is The Age’s regional editor. He was previously state rounds reporter and has also covered education for The Age.Connect via X or email.
