The Fire Brigades Act 1890 created two boards, a Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board (MFBB) for the Metropolitan Fire District and a Country Fire Brigades Board (CFBB) to embrace the nine County Fire Districts. The Act laid the foundations for the CFBB giving it extensive powers and responsibilities of fire brigades based more than 16 kilometres from Melbourne. The CFBB officially came into being on 1 January 1891.

In 1926, the Bush Fire Brigades were formed following serious bushfires. They consisted entirely of volunteer members, were administered by the State Forests Department, had only scant power to carry out fire prevention measures and received little or no financial assistance from the Government.

Following serious fires across Victoria in 1939, a Royal Commission recommended a single firefighting organisation for country Victoria. The devastation of the 1944 fires emphasised the urgency of better coordination of country fire services. Legislation was passed to establish a country fire authority and the Country Fire Authority (CFA) commenced operation on 2 April 1945.

CFA has now evolved to become one of the world's largest volunteer based emergency services and has been involved in fighting a number of major fires, including the Ash Wednesday fires.

There are currently 1,228 CFA brigades servicing the operational areas throughout regional Victoria (except state forests and parks) and outer metropolitan Melbourne. In recent times, CFA's responsibilities for responding to urban and transport risks have grown substantially.

Key dates at a glance…

• 1 January 1891 – The Country Fire Brigades Board (CFBB) formed
• 1926 - Bush Fire Brigades formed
• 2 April 1945 - Country Fire Authority (CFA) commences operation