Agency overview | |
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Formed | 2012 |
Preceding agency |
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Jurisdiction | Government of Western Australia |
Motto | Working together for a safer state |
Annual budget | $345 million AUD FY2020 |
Minister responsible |
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Agency executive |
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Child agencies |
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Website | www.dfes.wa.gov.au |
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) is a government department that is responsible for fire and emergency services in Western Australia. The department came into being in 2012 as a result of the Perth Hills Bush Fire review. [1] DFES is responsible for the management, training and funding of career and volunteer Services including: [2]
DFES Currently employs over 1,200 career firefighters and 300+ staff members as well as over 26,000 volunteers in the 5 services state wide. [3]
The DFES was formerly known as the Fire and Emergency Services Authority of Western Australia (FESA), a statutory government authority created in January 1999 to administer the following legislation within the state of Western Australia: [4]
In the July 2017 Western Australian machinery of government changes, the department remained unaffected. [5]
The inaugural meeting of the Fire Brigades' Board was held on 16 January 1899. This later led to the establishment of the Western Australian Fire Brigades' Board in 1909. WA Fire Brigades updated their name in 1995 to the Fire and Rescue Service of Western Australia, to more accurately reflect the service provided to the communities of Western Australia. [6]
In 1999, with the creation of FESA, brought together the Fire and Rescue Service, and the Bush Fire Service to form the Fire Services Division of FESA. The Fire and Rescue Service and Bush Fire Service actively maintain their original identities.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services was established in 2012 and replaced FESA. The first Fire and Emergency Commissioner Wayne Gregson was appointed. Wayne Gregson is a former WA Police Assistant Commissioner. A new state of the art headquarters is located at Stockton Bend, Cockburn Central. This building includes the state and metropolitan operations centres, statewide communications centre, operations/capability commands and corporate services.
DFES operates under the Emergency Services Minister of the Government of WA and is the Hazard Management Agency (HMA) for cyclones, floods, storms, tsunami, structural collapse, HAZMAT incidents, earthquakes and fire. Their operational branch comprises Metropolitan Operations, Country Operations and Operations Capability and oversees the following services:
The Career Fire and Rescue Service of Western Australia (FRS or CFRS) consists of 1,200 paid firefighters working from 25 metropolitan stations and 4 country stations. Career firefighters attend a 21 week training course held at the academy in Forrestfield. Working on a 2-2-4 roster of two 10 hour day shifts followed by two 14 hour night shifts and then 4 days off. Metropolitan stations operate with at least one urban pumper and light tanker, with a crew of 1 station officer and 3 firefighters. (Perth station does not run light tankers). Country stations operate with a crew of 1 station officer and 5 fire fighters. [7] Some metropolitan stations operate as relieving stations where 2 additional firefighters are on shift, these firefighters will fill short staffing at other stations if the need arises.
Appliance allocation is typically 1 urban pumper and 1 light tanker, with a 2nd pump located at Perth, Vincent, Daglish, Fremantle, Welshpool and Bunbury. Two CLP's are located at Perth and Freemantle stations. Two SET's are located at Murdoch and Osborne Park. Three permanent Urban Tankers are located at Joondalup, Malaga and Canning Vale. With additional Urban Tankers brought online at Ellenbrook, Hope Valley and Maddington, during the high threat period. The ICV is located at Belmont Station.
The Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service (VFRS) is a volunteer service predominantly attending motor vehicle accidents, structure fires and HAZMAT incidents outside of metropolitan areas. In 2019 the VFRS had 2,371 volunteer firefighters in 94 brigades across the state. [8] [9]
The Bush Fire Service (BFS) is a volunteer service tasked with attending any fire outside of a gazetted fire district within a Brigade's Local Government area. They predominantly combat bushfires and conduct hazard reduction burning on a local level. As of 2019, there are 566 Bush Fire Brigades (BFBs) with 19,521 volunteers. [10]
The Volunteer Fire and Emergency Services (VFES) is also a volunteer service. It was established to combine the resources of any combination of a BFS Brigade, a VFRS Brigade, VMR Group or an SES Unit to replace the Volunteer Fire Services (VFS) and Volunteer Emergency Service (VES) in 2016 [11] It has just over 1,000 volunteers as of 2019.
The State Emergency Service (SES) is a volunteer service with the role of attending a vast array of natural disasters and search and rescue incidents. They attend land searches for missing people, storm damage, urban search and rescue (USAR), cliff rescue, road crash rescue, transporting personnel and equipment to fires as well as many other roles. The SES has a K9 unit with volunteer's dogs being trained in searching for missing people and a mounted unit for land searches. As of 2019 they had 1,839 volunteers.
The Volunteer Marine Rescue Service (VMRS) is another volunteer service tasked with assisting the Western Australian Police with searches for missing people or vessels, assisting disabled vessels and rescues in water around the state. As of 2019 there are 39 VMRS Groups with 1,752 volunteers. [12]
In April 2018 a new Rural Fire Division was announced after the findings of the 2016 Waroona Bushfire Special Inquiry. It will be another branch under the DFES structure and will consist of: [13]
Title | Epaulette | Helmet | |
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Commissioner | Crossed staffs in gold wreath with red background below a crown. | Black 2 x white stripes on both sides | |
Deputy Commissioner | Crossed staffs in gold wreath with red background below 3 pips | Black 1 x white stripe on both sides | |
Assistant Commissioner | Crossed staffs in gold wreath with red background below 2 pips | Black | |
Chief Superintendent | Crossed staffs in gold wreath with red background below 1 pip | Silver 1 x white stripe on both sides | |
Superintendent | Crossed staffs in gold wreath with red background | Silver | |
District Officer (Urban & Rural Fire) | 3 blue impellors | Blue 1 x white stripe | |
District Officer (Natural Hazzards) | 3 gold pips | Blue 1 x whte stripe | |
Area Officer | 2 blue impellors below a band | Blue | |
Community Emergency Services Manager (CESM) | 2 gold pips, local government name printed below | Lime green 1 x white stripe on both sides | |
Career Fire & Rescue | |||
Station Officer (SO) | 2 blue impellors | Red 2 x blue impellors on both sides | |
Leading Firefighter | 3 yellow chevrons below 2 crossed red axes | Yellow 3 x yellow chevrons on both sides | |
Senior Firefighter - 15 years (SFF-15) | 3 x chevrons ( 2 x yellow above 1 x red) below 2 crossed red axes | Yellow 3 x chevrons ( 2 x yellow above 1 x red) on both sides | |
Senior Firefighter | 2 x yellow chevrons below 2 crossed red axes | Yellow 2 x yellow chevrons on both sides | |
Firefighter 1st & 2nd class | 1 x yellow chevron below 2 crossed red axes | Yellow 1 x yellow chevron on both sides | |
Firefighter 5th, 4th & 3rd class | 2 crossed red axes | Yellow | |
Trainee Firefighter | Blank red epaulette | Yellow | |
Volunteer Fire & Rescue Service | |||
VFRS Captain | 3 x red bars below a red impellor | Lime green | |
VFRS Lieutenant | 2 x red bars below a red impellor | White 1 x blue stripe on both sides | |
VFRS Apparatus Officer | 1 x red bar below a red impellor | White 1 x green stripe on both sides | |
VFRS Secretaty (Non-active) | 1 x yellow line above SECRETARY in writing | ||
VFRS Leading Firefighter | 3 x red chevrons below 2 crossed branches | White | |
VFRS Senior Firefighter | 2 x red chevrons below 2 crossed branches | White | |
VFRS Qualified Firefighter | 1 x red chevron below 2 crossed branches | White | |
VFRS Firefighter | 2 crossed branches | White | |
VFRS Ex Captain | 1 x yellow impellow above EX CAPTAIN in writing | White |
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The Department maintains and coordinates a range of specialist equipment and emergency response vehicles. This includes pumpers and tankers, aerial ladders and other equipment designed to combat incidents including search and rescue, urban search and rescue (USAR), firefighting and other natural disasters.
Appliances used by DFES brigades groups and units include: [15]
Vehicles are named based on their water capacity, drive type (2x4/4x4) and role. For example: 1.4R meaning approximately 1000L, 4x4 and designed for a rural environment.
In February 2023, a Coulson Aviation Boeing 737-300 crashed while fighting fires in Fitzgerald River National Park; both pilots survived the crash. [17]
A volunteer fire department (VFD) is a fire department of volunteers who perform fire suppression and other related emergency services for a local jurisdiction. Volunteer and retained (on-call) firefighters are expected to be on call to respond to emergency calls for long periods of time, and are summoned to the fire station when their services are needed. They are also expected to attend other non-emergency duties as well.
The Country Fire Authority (CFA) is a volunteer fire service responsible for fire suppression, rescues, and response to other accidents and hazards across most of the state Victoria, Australia. CFA comprises over 1,200 brigades organised in 21 districts, and shares responsibility for fire services with Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV), which employs full-time paid firefighters in major urban areas; and Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMV), which manages fire prevention and suppression on Victoria's public lands. CFA operations and equipment are partly funded by the Victorian Government through its Fire Services Levy, and supplemented by individual brigades' fundraising for vehicles and equipment.
The South Australian Country Fire Service is a volunteer based fire service in the Australian state of South Australia. The CFS has responsibility as the Control Agency for firefighting, rescues and hazardous materials and inland waterways in the country regions of South Australia. Its official mission is "To protect life, property and the environment from fire and other emergencies whilst protecting and supporting our personnel and continuously improving."
The New South Wales Rural Fire Service is a volunteer-based firefighting agency and statutory body of the Government of New South Wales.
The New Zealand Fire Service was New Zealand's main firefighting body from 1 April 1976 until 1 July 2017 – at which point it was dissolved and incorporated into the new Fire and Emergency New Zealand.
The Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB), also known as the Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board, was a fire service in Victoria, Australia. The MFB provided firefighting, rescue, medical and hazardous material incident response services to the metropolitan area of Melbourne. The MFB's headquarters were located at the Eastern Hill Fire Station in East Melbourne.
The Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia, commonly known as Bomba, is a federal agency of Malaysia responsible for firefighting and technical rescue. Bomba is a Malay word derived from the Portuguese bombeiros which means 'firefighters'.
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The South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service (SAMFS) is the fire service for metropolitan and urban South Australia, as well as large townships. The Metropolitan Fire Service is constituted under the Fire and Emergency Services Act.
As firefighting has a rich history throughout the world, traditions in this profession vary widely from country to country.
Fire services in the York Region of Canada are provided for and by each municipality. There are 35 fire stations across the region. Most services consist of full-time members, but some services have volunteer firefighters.
The ACT Fire and Rescue is the urban fire and rescue service for the Australian Capital Territory. It along with the ACT Ambulance Service, ACT State Emergency Service and ACT Rural Fire Service are part of the Australian Capital Territory Emergency Services Agency.
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The Queensland Fire Department (QFD) is the primary provider of fire and emergency services in Queensland, Australia. The QFD was established on the 1st of July, 2024, and has committed to a refocus on firefighting operations after the organisational change from QFES. The QFD’s headquarters are located at the Emergency Services Complex in Kedron, Brisbane.
The ACT Rural Fire Service is a branch of the Australian Capital Territory Emergency Services Agency ESA. It is responsible for the prevention, detection and extinguishment of all bushfires within the ACT, as well as assisting the other branches of ESA.
The 2015 Esperance bushfires were a series of catastrophic bushfires that burned from 15 to 26 November and affected the Goldfields-Esperance region in the Australian state of Western Australia. During the fires, the Shire of Esperance experienced two significant fires and a complex of fires; 128,000 hectares were burnt by the Cascades fire, 18,000 hectares were burnt by the Merivale fire, and 164,000 hectares were burnt by the Cape Arid complex of fires. On 17 November, during the major run of the Cascades fire, four civilian fatalities occurred in vehicles traveling on Griggs Road in Scaddan. As of 2020, the Cascades fire was equally the worst bushfire in Western Australia in terms of human fatalities along with the Willow Springs/Nannup fire of January 1958.
Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) is a fire and rescue service in the state of Victoria, Australia, that provides firefighting, rescue, HAZMAT and Emergency Medical Response services in areas of metropolitan Melbourne and major regional centres throughout Victoria.
The 2021 Wooroloo bushfire was a fast moving bushfire that started on 1 February in Wooroloo, 45 kilometres (28 mi) north-east of the Perth central business district, in the Shire of Mundaring, Western Australia. By 2 February, the bushfire emergency had spread to Shires of Chittering and Northam, and the City of Swan. It had destroyed at least 86 houses and 2 fire trucks. By 6 February, the bushfire had travelled 26 km (16 mi) from its source. The fire coincided with a five day lockdown of the Perth metropolitan region that started at 6pm on 31 January, due to a case of COVID-19 outside of hotel quarantine. In July 2021, WA Police charged a man with a breach of duty and carrying out an activity that could cause a fire, alleging that he used an angle grinder that caused sparks.
The 2016 Waroona-Yarloop bushfire started in the east in the forests of the Darling Scarp before reaching the Swan Coastal Plain and continued westwards until it reached the Indian Ocean. It started as a lightning strike that caused two fires in the Lane Poole Reserve state forest near Dwellingup, Western Australia on 5 January 2016 and then burnt close to Waroona and then through the historical town of Yarloop, destroying it, before continuing southwards towards the outskirts of the town of Harvey and westwards to Preston Beach. Around 70,000 ha of land was burnt, two people died and at least 166 buildings were destroyed in Yarloop alone with only ninety buildings surviving. In total 181 buildings and structures were lost with the total cost of fighting the fire and the cost of the damage and the loss resulting estimated at $155 million.
The 2021 Beechina bushfire was a bushfire that began on 26 December 2021 in Beechina, 46 kilometres east-north-east of the Perth central business district, in the Shire of Mundaring, Western Australia. The bushfire began less than five kilometres from the 2021 Wooroloo bushfire, and coincided with a COVID-19 outbreak and associated public health measures in the Perth metropolitan region. One house was destroyed as a result of the fire, along with six outbuildings and a number of vehicles.