The United Firefighters Union says the ACT's urban firefighters need more resources to adequately protect Canberrans during the fire season.
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Other than officers of a specific unit, ACT Fire and Rescue will not send any personnel interstate this fire season due to staff shortages.
On Thursday, the union launched its Act on Fire campaign to encourage the community to support the firefighter's request for at least $45 million funding over four years to adequately protect the territory.
The ACT government maintains its firefighters are well prepared to tackle the upcoming fire season.
The calls come as the territory sweltered through a 38 degree day which brought with it the second total fire ban of the season.
However, with temperatures easing heading towards the weekend the Emergency Services Agency thought it was unlikely the ban would be extended.
United Firefighters Union ACT secretary Greg McConville said total fire bans added tasks to an already strained workforce.
The union has been a protracted battle with the government over the firefighters' enterprise bargaining agreement and the overtime bill has grown each year. It's on track to reach $8 million this financial year.
Mr McConville said the effects of climate change necessitated further spending on firefighting.
"We don't think the territory is as prepared as it could be," he said.
"Fire seasons are longer, fires are more intense, our capacity to carry out preventative burnoffs is reduced. These are all products of climate change, there's no doubt about that.
"You don't get climate skeptics on the end of a fire hose."
He said firefighters were disappointed that no interstate deployments would happen this season due to under staffing.
It robbed the Canberra firefighter ranks of valuable experience that could be utilised at home, he said, and also meant Canberra firefighters could not be "a good neighbour" to other jurisdictions in need.
The ESA firefighting forces are split into two distinct agencies, the Rural Fire Service, staffed with mainly volunteers, and ACT Fire and Rescue, professional urban firefighters.
The RFS has deployed volunteers interstate and currently has 19 battling fires in NSW.
However, while the RFS typically responds to bushfires, ACT Fire and Rescue would play a significant role if a major bushfire hit Canberra.
"Canberra is surrounded by bush and most suburbs have an interface with the bush," Mr McConville said.
"When fires hit the suburbs, it's Fire and Rescue that are equipped with the trucks to fight structure fires and perform asset protection.
"That is exactly what would be affected by the current staffing shortfalls.
"Many firefighters are already facing fatigue, so if you had an incident running for several days we would not have the capacity to attack that in the way that we would want to."
Mr McConville said the service needed an additional 94 firefighters over the next four years.
He said the government had made some "favourable noises" about their requests and he understood emergency services minister Mick Gentleman would advocate for firefighters in the budget.
Mr Gentleman said the union's budget proposal would be considered through the usual budget process.
He said ACT Fire and Rescue was staffed to a level where Canberra was one of the safest communities in the world.
"The ESA is better prepared than ever before for bushfires in the ACT," Mr Gentleman said.
"The independent Bushfire Council has acknowledged that the ACT is well resourced, and prepared for the start of the bushfire season."
He pointed to figures suggesting the ACT had the second most firefighters per 100,000 in the country and that emergency response times were among the best in Australia.
However a report by RMIT, commissioned by the union, showed that the ACT was considerably more reliant on paid firefighters than other jurisdiction as a heavy proportion of volunteers were made up of suburban community firefighting units.
Mr Gentleman did acknowledge the impact of climate change on firefighting and moving forward the ESA would display a focus on adapting to tackle the issue.
The government will explore options for stations in Acton and Molonglo and has committed to $4.2 million for new firefighting vehicles.
$678,000 was provided in the last budget to recruit and train 36 new firefighters.