Department of Fire and Emergency Services


The Department of Fire and Emergency Services is a government department responsible for fire and emergency services in Western Australia. The department came into being in 2012 as a result of the Perth Hills Bushfire. The DFES is responsible for the management, training and funding of career and volunteer services including:
  • Career Fire and Rescue Service 29 BGUs, 1,249 members
  • Bushfire Service 551 BGUs, 20,227 members
  • State Emergency Service 64 BGUs, 1,929 members
  • Volunteer Fire and Emergency Services 40 BGUs, 1,184 members
  • Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service 93 BGUs, 2,219 members
  • Marine Rescue Service 39 BGUs, 1,570 members
  • Public Service Officers and Technicians 658 members
The DFES currently employs 1,249 career firefighters and over 600 staff members, as well as over 29,000 volunteers in the six services state-wide.
There are also 2,579 members in the Emergency Services Cadets and Youth programs across five services.
WWW Official Site𝕏 dfes_waFB dfeswa

History

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services was formerly known as the Fire and Emergency Services Authority of Western Australia, a statutory government authority created in January 1999 to administer the following legislation within the state of Western Australia:
The department was unaffected by the change in government following the 2017 Western Australian state elections.

Fire and Rescue Service of Western Australia

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. Western Australian Fire Brigades updated their name in 1995 to Fire and Rescue Service of Western Australia to more accurately reflect the service provided to the communities of Western Australia.
In 1999, 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 Services actively maintain their original identities.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services was established in 2012 and replaced FESA. Wayne Gregson was appointed the first Fire and Emergency Commissioner. The current headquarters are located at Stockton Bend in Cockburn Central. This building includes the state and metropolitan operations centres, state-wide communications centre, operations and capability commands and corporate services.

Structure

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services operates under the Emergency Services Minister of the Government of Western Australia and is the Hazard Management Agency for cyclones, floods, storms, tsunami, structural collapses, HAZMAT incidents, earthquakes and fires. Their operational branch comprises metropolitan and country operations, operations capability, and oversees the listed services.
The Career Fire and Rescue Service of Western Australia consists of 1,249 paid firefighters working from 25 metropolitan stations and four country stations. Career firefighters attend a 21-week training course held at the academy in Forrestfield. They work on a roster of two 10-hour day shifts followed by two 14-hour night shifts and then four days off. Metropolitan stations operate with at least one urban pumper and light tanker, with a crew of one station officer and three firefighters. Country stations operate with a crew of one station officer and five fire fighters. Some metropolitan stations operate as relieving stations where two additional firefighters are on shift, these firefighters will fill short staffing at other stations if the need arises.
Appliance allocation is typically one Urban Pumper and one Light Tanker, with a second pump located at Perth, Vincent, Daglish, Fremantle, Welshpool and Bunbury. Two CLPs are located at Perth and Fremantle stations. Two SET's are located at Murdoch and Osborne Park. Four permanent Urban Tankers are located at Joondalup, Malaga, Cardup and Canning Vale, with additional Urban Tankers added at Ellenbrook, Hope Valley, Midland, Welshpool and Maddington, during the high threat period. The ICV is located at Belmont Station, The POD carrier is also located at Canning Vale.
The Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service is a volunteer service predominantly attending motor vehicle accidents, structure fires and HAZMAT incidents in large urban areas. In 2024 the VFRS had 2,219 volunteer firefighters in 93 brigades across the state.
The Bush Fire Service is a volunteer service who attend 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., there are 551 Bushfire Brigades with 20,227 volunteers. 37 of these stations are located in the Perth metropolitan area.
The Volunteer Fire and Emergency Services is also a volunteer service, established to combine the resources of any combination of a Bush Fire Service Brigade, a VFRS Brigade, MR Group or an SES Unit to replace the Volunteer Fire Services and Volunteer Emergency Service in 2016 It has just over 1,184 volunteers.
The State Emergency Service refers to a number of civil defence organisations that provide assistance during and after natural disasters and in search and rescue incidents where elevated equipment and skills are needed compared to more general emergency services. They attend land searches for missing people, storm damage, urban search and rescue, cliff rescue, road crash rescue, transporting personnel and equipment to fires as well as many other roles. The SES has a K9 unit with volunteers' dogs being trained in searching for missing people and a mounted unit for land searches., they had 1,020 members and 64 units.
The Marine Rescue Service Western Australia 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. there are 39 MRS Groups with 1,570 volunteers.
In April 2018 a new Rural Fire Division was established after the findings of the 2016 Waroona Bushfire Special Inquiry. It is another branch under the DFES structure and consists of:

Stations

Metropolitan Career fire stations.

Along with the 25 career fire stations, there are 12 Volunteer Fire and Rescue stations located with in the Metropolitan Fire District, these stations are located at, Armadale, Falcon, Kalamunda, Kwinana, Metropolitan VFRS Mandurah, Mundaring, Rockingham, Roleystone, Secret Harbour and Yanchep. There is also 4 Volunteer Fire and Emergency Service stations, located at Baldivis, Bullsbrook, Karnup, and SWORD.

Vehicles and equipment

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,
firefighting and other natural disasters.
Appliances used by DFES brigades groups and units include:

Tankers

Firefighting tankers are used across all services, including CFRS, VFRS, VFES and BFB. Tankers are designated by their water capcity, drive type, and capability. For example, 1.4R means approximately 1,000 litres, 4×4, designed for a rural environment.
B - Broadacre Tanker - Designed for fighting mostly farmland and cropping areas, has minimal stowage on the vehicle.
R - Rural Tanker - Designed for fighting fires in the rural area. This designation is no longer in production.
U - Urban Tanker - Designed for urban envoriments, and townships, has the capabilities to go off road, carrys Urban fire fighting stowage which may include Breathing Apparatus.
Tankers also include a range of comprehensive crew protection items, this includes, in-cab air units, radiant heat shields, burnover blankets, crew protection deluge system, and automatic vehicle locator

Specialist Vehicles

  • Road Crash Rescue Tender
  • Bulk Water Tankers 9.2 and 12.2
  • Incident Control Vehicle
  • Combination Ladder Platform
  • Combination Aerial Pumper Appliance
  • POD Carrier
  • Vertical Rescue Vehicle
  • Rehabilitation Vehicle

SES/Volunteer Fire and Emergency Services vehicles

  • Personnel Carrier
  • General Rescue Utility
  • General Rescue Truck
  • Commuter Bus
  • Road Crash Rescue Tender
  • Flood Rescue Boat

Incidents

In February 2023, a Coulson Aviation Boeing 737-300 crashed while fighting fires in Fitzgerald River National Park; both pilots survived the crash.