South Australian Country Fire Service


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."
Many parts of Australia are sparsely populated and under significant risk of bushfire. It would be prohibitively expensive for each Australian town or village to have a paid fire service. The compromise adopted is to have government funded equipment and training but volunteer firefighters to perform the duties of regular firefighters. In South Australia, the name for the volunteer service is the CFS. Each Australian State and Territory has its own service, such as the Country Fire Authority in the state of Victoria and the Rural Fire Service in the state of New South Wales.
In the state capital Adelaide and larger towns in South Australia, a conventional paid service exists, the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service. Most towns rely on the CFS. Several Adelaide suburbs that retain extensive scrubland have CFS stations whose area of operation overlaps that of the SAMFS with joint training exercises sometimes organised for major community facilities such as the Flinders Medical Centre. For urban incidents, both services will often attend with the Metropolitan Fire Service taking command.

Appearance

The Country Fire Service fire appliances are painted white, rather than red as in many other fire services worldwide. This provides greater visibility on road, and in thick smoke. The day/night striping down the sides of appliances is either the old silver and red standard, or a newer red and gold chequering. Appliances made after 2012 have the newest red and bright yellow chequering. The red and bright yellow chequering provides much better visibility, particularly for crews working on roads. Some appliances are also trialling battenburg striping with bright chevrons on the rear of the appliances.
Fire fighters wear yellow protective clothing, with a two-piece set being the standard. With the introduction of PBI Gold, all CFS volunteers who have completed BA training are now seen wearing yellow/brown coloured clothing. All turn out coats have "CFS" or "FIRE" on the back in reflective writing. More modern jackets also have day/night striping around the sleeves and bottom of the jacket. Safety Vests are provided for work on the roads. these have "Fire", "Rescue", or "CFS" on both front and back in reflective writing.
Firefighters' helmets are white,, with the firefighters surname on the back of the helmet in red writing on a glow-in-the-dark background. Lieutenants and Captains have yellow helmets, and Deputy Group Officers and above have red helmets. Regional staff have a blue stripe on their helmet.

History

In colonial times, the government attempted to control the outbreak of wildfires by legislating against the careless use of fire. This began with the 1847 ordinance against reckless burn-offs of stubble and grass. The challenge of fire suppression was left to local residents who would band together to fight fires without any formal organisation or authority. In 1913, district councils were given the right to appoint fire control officers given the power to do anything 'necessary or expedient and practicable' to prevent fires or to protect life and property.
As firefighting technology advanced during World War II, a government-equipped volunteer Emergency Fire Service brigade was established in Adelaide followed by additional brigades in some country areas. After the war, equipment from these brigades was lent to district councils for rural firefighting work. To supervise the program, an Emergency Fire Services division was formed as a division of the police department.
Throughout the mid-1950s, the EFS grew stronger and more organised, and volunteers began to campaign for the establishment of the EFS as a statutory authority. This was achieved in 1976 with the passing of the Country Fires Act through the South Australian Government which retitled the EFS as the Country Fire Service. The Country Fires Act, 1989 pulled the control of the CFS away from district councils to the State Government, allowing for the development of a standardised service able to respond quickly to emergencies across South Australia. In the late 1990s, as part of a drive to ensure that the CFS was properly equipped, another major change in funding was brought in, and the administration of the Service was combined with the administration of several other emergency services.
Today, the Emergency Services Levy Funding provides for the training, equipment and administration resources required to maintain the operation of the Service, but the CFS still stands fundamentally on the commitment and energy of its volunteers.
In 2005 the South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Act was passed in South Australian Parliament. This act brings the Country Fire Service Metropolitan Fire Service and South Australian State Emergency Service together under one administration board, and funding source. Vince Monterola, CEO of the Country Fire Service at the time, was appointed as the inaugural chairman. It is this Act that defines the Country Fire Service as the South Australian Country Fire Service. The SAFECOM Act of 2005 replaces the Country Fires Act of 1989, the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service Act of 1936 and the State Emergency Service Act of 1987.

Divisions

The CFS is made up of brigades which are organised into groups, which are again grouped into Regions. There are six regions in SA, and 51 groups. The CFS consists of around 425 brigades and about 13,000 volunteers.
A "strike team" is a deployment of appliances out of their usual area of operation. A strike team is made up as an operational unit to simplify incident command and control. A strike team typically consists of 5 fire appliances and a leading command car. The most common configuration is 4 Fire fighting appliances and 1 Bulk water carrier. A Strike teams firefighting force will be standardised to an appliance type, such as Rural or Urban Strike team; where Rural Strike teams contain only 24 and 34 type tankers, and an Urban Strike team contains only light/medium/heavy pumper type appliances, with the exception of a Bulk water carrier type appliance. Typically Strike teams are sourced from a group, and are named after their group.. Strike teams however can be composite made up from appliances from a number of groups. Strike teams are often deployed to regional areas for several days deployment. Often a strike team will be in charge of a particular sector of a fire.
There are also "cascading strike teams", which follow the 1 leader, 5 appliance ratio, however, these types of strike team do not organise prior to the deployment. They are paged in a way that is similar to a normal call out, and then meet up on the fire ground. This is a much quicker way to get trucks to an incident, but, the crews that are deployed in this way are often only used for a single day, as they are less organised and have less preparation time.
Along a similar line task forces are groups of appliances that are mobilised to combat a particular incident out of their usual area of operation. However, task forces are more flexible in their makeup and appliances are usually specifically selected for a particular incident. Where practical the 1 leader with 5 subordinates ratio is maintained for command ability. Unlike Strike teams, Task forces do not require appliance standardisation, hence a "Light Task force" may consist of type 14, Quick Response, and Bulk Water carrier appliances. Task forces attend a wide range of incidents including flooding.
There are also regional strike teams. These strike teams are put together when there are high fire danger days coming up and the CFS does not want to stretch a group's resources. These regional strike teams usually have one or two trucks from a few groups in that region. They sometimes have two or more commanding cars, plus a State Emergency Service vehicle for logistics.

Chain of Command

The CFS chain of command is set out in the following way, with the top being the most senior in rank:
  • Chief Officer
  • Deputy Chief Officer
  • Assistant Chief Officer
  • Commander / Regional Commander
  • Staff/Regional Officer
  • Group Officer
  • Deputy Group Officer
  • Brigade Captain is the most senior rank in a brigade. The brigade captain is responsible for the operational and administrative aspects of the brigade. The position is elected by members of the brigade. Some of the things that a Captain will do are: undertaking responsibility for the proper management and maintenance of brigade property and equipment, ensuring members of the brigade are properly trained, take command of incidents and ensure that the chain of command within the brigade operates effectively, assisting with bushfire prevention and planning within the brigade's response area, liaising with other captains in adjacent brigades and managing the operations of the brigade in accordance with any determination of the CFS board.
  • Brigade Lieutenant. There must be at least two Lieutenants in a brigade and a maximum of four. They are elected to assist the captain in the performance of his or her functions, and take over in the absence of the Captain.
  • Senior Firefighter. Senior firefighters assist the Captain and Lieutenants with mainly operational management. They should be experienced personnel within the brigade, and they provide an opportunity for brigades to establish a line of middle management or succession planning. Some people see the position of a Senior as a buildup to becoming a Lieutenant.
  • Firefighter is the lowest rank of operational fire personnel, but they are the most important, because they make up the numbers. These firefighters can be trained just as much as a more highly ranked person but they do not usually take a leadership role at an incident.
  • Operational Support member. They do not go out on the fire truck. They help out with any of the other jobs that need doing, including fundraising, preparing food, operating the station radio etc.
  • Cadet. They do not go out on the fire truck to incidents. The age in which you can become a cadet is 11, but some brigades will set higher minimum ages for their members. Cadets are taught skills which will help them when they become firefighters.
All positions from Group Officer down are voluntary and are elected democratically by firefighters.
Regional Officers and above are appointed by the state government.
Other positions that may be held within a brigade/group are:
  • Brigade/Group Communications Coordinator is responsible for ensuring all communication equipment is operational and utilised correctly and efficiently.
  • Brigade/Group Training Coordinator coordinates training, including weekly training and ensuring volunteers are placed on appropriate specialist courses.
  • Brigade/Group Logistics Support Coordinator provides logistics support at a local level, e.g. food packs on appliances, and resource directories in the radio room.
  • Brigade/Group OH&S Coordinator ensures OH&S requirements are met, and near miss and accident report forms are lodged appropriately.
  • Brigade/Group Administration Coordinator does administration, including signing up of new members.
  • Brigade/Group Finance Coordinator coordinate finances, reimbursements, purchases, and GST claims