AGY-619 | New South Wales Fire Brigades (1990-2010) Fire and Rescue NSW (2011-)

Full description

"An Act to provide for the protection of persons and property from fire and for that purpose to constitute New South Wales Fire Brigades as a Department and to provide for permanent and volunteer brigades" ... received assent on 19 December 1989 and came into force on 1 January 1990. (1) The new Act authorised the establishment of the New South Wales Fire Brigades as a Department of the NSW Government. (2)

Although the Act dissolved the Board of Fire Commissioners, the former President of the Board became the Director-General of the new Department. (3) Board employees became entitled to positions in the Public Service while the assets and liabilities of the dissolved board were vested in the Crown and its assets were to be paid into the New South Wales Fire Brigades Capital Fund as established by the Act. (4) The Chief Officer, established by the Fire Brigades Act, 1909 became the Chief Officer of Fire Brigades; the former executive officers became Deputy Chief Officers of Fire Brigades. (5)

All members of the Permanent Fire Brigades and the Voluntary Fire Brigades continued in the service. (6) New financial arrangements established by the Act were that 12.3% was to be paid by the local governments in which the fire districts were located and 73.7% were to be contributed by insurance companies. (7)

The Act also constituted the New South Wales Fire Brigades Advisory Council whose function was to advise the Minister on any matter related to fire fighting. (8) The Council, which had the authority to establish committees with the Minister's approval was to consist of six members:
(1) the Director-General who was to be its Chairperson
(2) the Chief Officer
(3) a person appointed by the Minister to represent Insurance Companies
(4) to represent local government in New South Wales
(5) a person appointed by the Minister on the nomination of the Treasurer
(6) a person appointed by the Minister considered to have expertise in the field of fire prevention and control. (9)

In 1998 there were over 6000 firefighters working from 324 fire stations as well as special units. Supported by some 230 administrative and technical and administrative staff the Brigades worked under a regional structure. Their task was to extinguish fire in and beyond fire districts (urban areas) throughout the State, and to protect and save life and property in fire, and in some non-fire situations. Brigades combatted chemical spillages and helped prevent fires by inspecting buildings and advising on structural fire safety. (10)

In 2007/08 NSW Fire Brigades had a network of 339 fire stations across the state; a central office in Elizabeth Street, Sydney; two logistics support centres at Greenacre; communications centres at Alexandria, Newcastle, Wollongong and Katoomba; a state training college at Alexandria and training facilities at Albion Park, Armidale, Deniliquin and Wellington; and a fleet of 892 vehicles. In 2007/08 the NSWFB had 6675 firefighters, over 6550 Community Fire Unit volunteers and 380 administrative and trades staff working together to provide service to the community. (11)

By 1 July 1993 New South Wales Fire Brigades was divided into four regional commands with four Regional Offices commissioned in the 1992/1993 report year: North, South, North West, and South West. Each Region comprised zones from both the Sydney Metropolitan area and from country areas. Region North comprised the Northern Beaches, Northern Suburbs, Newcastle, Maitland, Port Macquarie and Lismore with Regional Office North at Artarmon. Region South comprised City and Eastern Suburbs, Southern Suburbs, Wollongong and Wagga Wagga with Regional Office South at Headquarters Fire Station, Sydney. Region North West comprised the Hills to Richmond, Parramatta to Penrith, Katoomba, Dubbo and Tamworth with Regional Office North West at Parramatta. Region South West comprised the Inner West, Auburn to Picton and Leeton with Regional Office South West at Chullora. (12)

In November 2000 the regions were reduced from four to three: North, West, and South. Region West was formed from both the former North West and South West. Region Office North was located at Artarmon. Region Office West was located at Parramatta Fire Station at Harris Park. Region Office South was located at Greenacre. (13)

In October 2006 a further restructure was implemented. The three region structure was replaced with a dual metropolitan/regional structure. Seven new Area Commands were established, each under the control of a Chief Superintendent, and with each Area Command overseeing three Zones. Metropolitan Operations comprised the following Area Commands: Metropolitan East, Metropolitan North, Metropolitan South, and Metropolitan West. Regional Operations comprised the following Area Commands: Regional North, Regional South, and Regional West. The previous three regional offices were replaced by smaller area and zone offices. Zone offices for Metropolitan East were located at Sydney South, Crows Nest and Greenacre. Zone offices for Metropolitan North were located at Newcastle, Wyong and Maitland. Zone offices for Metropolitan West were located at Huntingwood, Harris Park and Katoomba. Zone offices for Metropolitan South were located at Kogarah, Wollongong and St Andrews. Regional North  Office was located at Coffs Harbour with zone offices at Port Macquarie, Goonellabah and Tamworth. Regional West zone offices were located at Dubbo, Bathurst and Leeton. Regional South zone offices were located at Bateman's Bay, Goulburn and Wagga Wagga. (14)

From 1 January 2011 New South Wales Fire Brigades became known as Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) (15) to better reflect the growth and diversity of the Brigade's role across the state. FRNSW's role in the community has changed vastly since 1884 when the organisation was first formed. In addition to fire fighting, the brigade responded to tens of thousands of non-fire emergencies that ranged from dealing with hazardous incidents, extricating people from motor vehicle accidents, to assisting when natural disasters occurred. (16)

The functions of the Commissioner included the following:
(1) to take all practicable measures for preventing and extinguishing fires and protecting and saving life and property in case of fire in any fire district,
(2) to take all practicable measures:
(a) for protecting and saving life and property endangered by hazardous material incidents, and
(b) for confining or ending such an incident, and
(c) for rendering the site of such an incident safe.
(3) to take measures anywhere in the State for protecting persons from injury or death and property from damage, whether or not fire or a hazardous material incident is involved and, in the case of a fire, it does not matter whether or not the persons are, or the property is, within a fire district.
(4) as directed by the State Emergency Operations Controller, deal with an emergency where no other agency has lawful authority to assume command of the emergency operation, and
(5) carry out, by accredited brigades, rescue operations allocated by the State Rescue Board, and
(6) assist the State Emergency Operations Controller to carry out emergency management functions relating to the prevention of, preparation for and response to, and to assist the State Emergency Recovery Controller to carry out emergency management functions relating to the recovery from, emergencies, in accordance with the State Emergency and Rescue Management Act 1989, and
(7) assist, at their request, members of the NSW Police Force, the NSW Rural Fire Service, the NSW State Emergency Service or the Ambulance Service of NSW in dealing with any incident or emergency, and
(8) maintain effective liaison with all emergency services organisations, and
(9) carry out such other functions as may be assigned to the Commissioner by or under this or any other Act, or by the State Emergency Operations Controller or the Minister. (17)

In 2017, the FRNSW Head Office moved from Elizabeth St, Sydney to Amarina Ave, Greenacre. (18)

From 1 July 2019 FRNSW became apart of the Department of Communities and Justice when the Department of Justice was abolished. (19)

In 2023 FRNSW aimed to deliver eight core capabilities: prevention and education, fire, rescue, hazmat, protect the environment, counter terrorism, natural disaster and humanitarian relief, and medical response. FRNSW also had a strong focus on the immediate release of information concerning current significant incidents. Information was released via a public social media feed which was updated by communications staff 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (20)

Endnotes
1. NSW Government Gazette (No.124), 22 December 1990, p.11025.
2. Fire Brigades Act 1989, (Act No.192, 1989), s.65.
3. Ibid, Schedule 4, 3 &4.
4. Ibid, Schedule 4, 6.
5. Ibid, Schedule 4, 11(a).
6. Ibid, Schedule 4, 10 (1) & 15(1).
7. Ibid, s.50 & 54.
8. Ibid, s.75-77.
9. Ibid, s.75 (2).
10. New South Wales Government Directory, 1998, p.146.
11. NSW Fire Brigades, Annual Report, 2006-07, p.8.
12. NSW Fire Brigades, Annual Report, 1992-93, pp.12-13, 135.
13. NSW Fire Brigades, Annual Report, 2000-2001, pp.3, 14-15, 119.
14. NSW Fire Brigades, Annual Report, 2006/07, pp.15-17, 184-185.
15. Public Sector Employment and Management (Fire and Rescue NSW) Order 2010 (2010 No 753), notified NSW Legislation website, 17 December 2010.
16. Fire NSW website, Our history, https://www.fire.nsw.gov.au/ (accessed 6 December 2022).
17. Fire and Rescue NSW Act 1989 (Act No.192, 1989) s.5A.
18. Fire NSW website, Our history, https://www.fire.nsw.gov.au/ (accessed 6 December 2022).
19. Administrative Arrangements (Administrative Changes—Public Service Agencies) Order 2019 (2019-159) cl. 10 (2) LW 2 April 2019.
20. Fire and Rescue NSW, Annual Report, 2022/23, pp.38, 149