Ballarat's CFA call out performance has shown a marked improvement in the past 12 months in the only troubled area of the city.
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New fire response statistics released show that four of the five fire regions across Ballarat have a greater than 90 per cent success rate in terms of the most serious call outs (Hazard Class 2) being answered within eight minutes.
The only area to fall below the 90 per cent threshold was Wendouree, which came in at 79 per cent, but even this was a strong result from the same period the previous year when it scored a 68 per cent response rate.
Hazard Class 2 includes significant urban areas which are primarily residential including commercial centres, clusters of industrial and/or high density community services such as schools, correctional facilities, hospitals. Response times are set to be within eight minutes.
The stats reveal the average length of time before a fire engine is on the scene from an initial call out.
Calls to Ballarat City are answered the quickest within the region at 6 minutes and 7 seconds with Lucas and Ballarat also taking less than seven minutes to respond.
Sebastopol has also jumped into the less than eight minute category, with responses with 7 minutes and 54 seconds.
In terms of raw number, Ballarat city answered 70 emergency calls in the three months to December, of which 68 were answered within the eight minute ratio.
All but one call for each of Ballarat, Lucas and Sebastopol were answered within the top timeframe.
Assistant chief fire officer for District 15 Chris Bigham said the CFA was proud of the Ballarat figures, particularly the improvement shown at Wendouree.
He said the CFA's overall compliance was comparable with previous quarters, but concerningly eight people did lose their lives in house fires, separate to those bushfires.
"This highlights the ongoing needs for smoke alarms, safe homes and ongoing home safety behaviour," Mr Bigham said.
"The CFA is committed to a high quality response to the community and we continually work to improve our response.
"We have a number of program initiatives and timelines is only one measure we apply to the community. These combined services jointly contribute to better outcomes across the board."
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