Vic Libs pick sacked CFA board member

A Country Fire Authority board member sacked by the Victorian government amid a heated pay saga is making a tilt for the emergency services minister's seat.

Sassafras-Ferny Creek volunteer brigade captain John Schurink has been preselected as the Liberal candidate for Monbulk - the seat held by Deputy Premier and Emergency Services Minister James Merlino since 2002.

Mr Merlino dismissed the CFA board, including Mr Schurink, in June 2016 after it failed to endorse a pay deal backed by the government and which is still in limbo.