| Queensland Fire Department | |
| Type: | department |
| Jurisdiction: | Queensland Government |
| Headquarters: | Kedron, Queensland, Australia |
| Employees: |
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| Minister1 Name: | Nikki Boyd |
| Minister1 Pfo: | Minister for Fire and Disaster Recovery |
| Chief1 Name: | Steve Smith |
| Chief1 Position: | Acting Commissioner |
| Chief2 Name: | Kevin Walsh |
| Chief2 Position: | QFR |
| Chief3 Name: | Ben Millington |
| Chief3 Position: | RFSQ |
| Child1 Agency: | Queensland Fire and Rescue |
| Child2 Agency: | Rural Fire Service Queensland |
The Queensland Fire Department (QFD) is the primary provider of fire services in Queensland, Australia. QFD was established in July 2024 and has committed to a refocus on fire operations after the change away from QFES.[1] The headquarters are located at the Emergency Services Complex in Kedron, Brisbane.
In 2021, personnel included 2,600 full-time (permanent) firefighters and 2,000 on-call auxiliary firefighters, and approximately 28,000 Rural Fire Service volunteers. QFD front-line operations are supported by non-operational administration and support staff and volunteers, and also both operational and non-operational contractors in support and administration throughout Queensland.[2]
The Queensland Government minister responsible for QFD is the Minister for Fire and Disaster Recovery, currently the Honourable Nikki Boyd.[3]
On 1 November 2013, the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service merged with Emergency Management Queensland (EMQ) and the Corporate Services Division of the Department of Community Safety to become the QFES, encompassing Queensland Fire and Rescue Service, parts of the State Emergency Service, Emergency Management and the Rural Fire Service.
In October 2022, following a review by the honourable Minister Mark Ryan, it was decided QFES would be dissolved in June 2024. The Queensland Fire and Emergency Service would become the Queensland Fire Department, with Queensland Fire and Rescue and the Rural Fire Service as part of its structure, and a new central headquarters for the QFD.[4] [5]
On Monday 3 June 2024 with their own chief officers, the State Emergency Service (SES) was moved to the Queensland Police Service; along with the Volunteer Marine Rescue and the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard Queensland, becoming part of the new Marine Rescue Queensland (MRQ).[4] [6] [7] [8]
The QFD headquarters will be located at 240 Sandgate Road, Albion, Brisbane, with a 2025 opening date.[5]
QFD is an agency which is composed of two separate primary agencies that together provide fire and rescue services to the entire state of Queensland. The two organisations are Queensland Fire and Rescue (QFR), and Rural Fire Service Queensland (RFSQ). [9]
QFR stations are primarily located in cities and towns and their primary duty is responding to structural fires and road traffic crashes (RTCs) as they are equipped with the specialist equipment required for this. They also respond to bushfires and structural fires and emergencies in rural areas. Other primary duties of QFR firefighters are to respond to hazardous materials and technical rescues.[10]
Rural Fire Brigades are mainly located in rural and remote areas of the state. Primarily, the RFSQ responds to bushfires and carries out hazard reduction burns and community education programs regarding fire safety. Brigades may also receive road crash rescue and animal rescue training. They often partner with other government and private agencies as well as landholders to carry out firefighting and other emergency and public awareness duties.[11] [12]
Since the merger of the fire boards in 1990, the Queensland state firefighting agency has operated under several names:
Queensland Fire and Rescue is made up of approximately 2600 full-time and 2000 auxiliary (on-call) firefighters, responsible for responding to emergencies in cities and towns and providing rescue and firefighting support to rural areas when Rural Fire Brigades require support. Becoming a Queensland Fire and Rescue firefighter involves a highly competitive selection process, after which successful candidates undertake a four-month recruitment course. Recruits then complete study and training in all disciplines of rescue, suppression of various types of fires, and major emergencies.
The first Rural Fire Board was established in 1927 with the Rural Fires Act of 1927 (Qld), and suspended in 1931 due to the Great Depression. The boards were re-established in 1948, and merged with the Department of Emergency Services in 1990, becoming the Rural Fire Service (RFS). In 2014, the RFS was incorporated into QFES.[13]
The RFSQ is heavily involved in fire prevention activities, carrying out hazard reduction burns throughout the year and also hosting community education events. The RFSQ do prescribed burns for a number of reasons. Primarily, these will be in the form of hazard reduction burns to minimise the effects of bushfires by creating natural fire breaks. Prescribed burns may also be done at the request of the owner of the land for any private purpose raising from hazard reduction to agricultural reasons. The RFSQ has a documentation process that must be followed to assist in private burn requests.
Queensland's firefighters respond to a range of incidents throughout the year, including structural and wildland (forest and grassland) fire suppression, vertical rescue, swift water rescue, road crash rescue, confined space rescue, trench rescue, urban search and rescue (USAR) and hazardous material mitigation.
Response to vegetation fires and mitigation of the hazards vegetation fires pose (via hazard reduction burns) are the primary role of the RFSQ, whereas structural fire suppression, rescue, and HAZMAT are generally the responsibility of the QFR, even in localities serviced by a Rural Fire Brigade. Rural Fire Brigades and Rural Fire Service paid staff undertake various hazard mitigation and community education duties alongside QFR firefighters, local councils, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service rangers, and local landholders. These activities ensure that communities are prepared for the fire season. One of these activities is hazard reduction burns. Hazard reduction burns use fire under controlled circumstances to reduce excess vegetation and minimise the potential for bushfires to spread.
QFD firefighters visit schools and engage in a range of community education activities to prepare the community for emergencies. The Rural Fire Service, as a community-oriented agency, also engages in many community education activities. Volunteer Community Educators (VCEs) are a specifically trained role within the Rural Fire Service that helps community members and organisations apply for community education events, plans the events, and presents and runs them. However, non-VCE volunteers also take on these roles alongside VCEs, or when a brigade does not have a trained VCE.
All elements of QFD are often sent on deployment to assist other Australian states during disasters, as well as assisting other regions within Queensland. QFD personnel from QFR and RFSQ, as well as the DART urban search and rescue team, may also be deployed nationally or internationally for major disaster operations, such as wildfires or landslides.
The following list chronologically records those who have held the post of Commissioner of the Queensland Fire and Emergency Service.
| Period served | Name | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commissioner, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services | ||||||
| 2014–2015 | Lee Johnson, | Formerly Commissioner of Queensland Fire and Rescue Service (QFRS). | ||||
| 2015 – 5 June 2019 | Katarina Carroll, | Formerly Assistant Commissioner in the Queensland Police Service. | ||||
| 2 December 2019 – 3 October 2023 | Greg Leach, | Former Deputy Chief Officer of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (Melbourne). Previous Commissioner of Tasmania Ambulance. | ||||
| 3 October 2023 – 1 July 2024 | Steven Smith, | Appointed acting commissioner from 3 October 2023. | ||||
| Commissioner, Queensland Fire Department | ||||||
| 1 July 2024 – present | Steven Smith, | |||||
The following have held the position of commissioner and later deputy commissioner of the QFRS.
| Period served | Name | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commissioner, Queensland Fire and Rescue Authority | ||||||
| 1997–2001 | Wayne Hartley, | Formerly Director of the Queensland Ambulance Service. | ||||
| Commissioner, Queensland Fire and Rescue Service | ||||||
| 2001–2002 | Wayne Hartley, | Formerly Commissioner, Queensland Fire and Rescue Authority | ||||
| 2002–2014 | Lee Johnson, | |||||
| Deputy Chief Officer, Queensland Fire and Rescue | ||||||
| 2023–present | Kevin Walsh, | |||||
| Chief Officer, Queensland Fire and Rescue | ||||||
| 2023–present | Kevin Walsh, | |||||
The QFD employs both full time paid firefighters and on-call paid auxiliary firefighters in QFR to staff its urban fire and rescue stations.
The QFD also employs paid staff and over 28000 volunteers in RFSQ to cover rural and remote areas of the state.
Alongside epaulette ranks, Queensland Fire and Rescue firefighters, auxiliaries, and Rural Fire Service paid staff and volunteers also have different helmet colours to identify rank, however they are somewhat limited, with multiple ranks sharing similar or identical helmet colours and/or markings.
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| Black | |
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| Red | |
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| Blue | |
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| Yellow | |
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| White |
Queensland Fire and Emergency Service medals and ribbons are worn in accordance with the order of precedence below, from centre to right. The award with the highest precedence is worn closest to the centre of the chest and on the top row of ribbon bars when more than four awards are worn.[14]
Citations are worn centrally, 5 mm above the nameplate on the right breast pocket of service shirts, tunics and coats. The order of precedence for citations is :[14]
| Commissioner's Unit Citation | ||
| G20 Citation | Awarded for service during the 2014 G20 Brisbane summit | |
| 2010–2011 Queensland Flood and Cyclone Citation | Awarded for service during one or more natural disasters: Cyclone Tasha, Cyclone Yasi, and 2010–11 Queensland floods | |
| XXI Commonwealth Games Citation | Awarded for service during the XXI Commonwealth Games 2018 | |
Queensland is split into seven regions for administrative purposes with each assigned a region number.
| Region 1 | Northern Region | |
| Region 2 | Central Region | |
| Region 3 | South Western Region | |
| Region 4 | North Coast Region | |
| Region 5 | Brisbane Region | |
| Region 6 | South Eastern Region | |
| Region 7 | Far Northern Region |
As of July 1st 2024, the QFD will be adopting a four region model. The regions will be as follows:
| Region 1 | Northern Region | |
| Region 2 | Central Region | |
| Region 3 | Southern/South Western Region | |
| Region 4 | Greater Brisbane/South Eastern Region |
Fire and Rescue stations are numbered by the region and command it's located in, followed by third digit.
For example, Station 482 (Caloundra) is situated in North Coast Region (see above), Caloundra Command, Station 2.
QFR appliance callsigns are formulated with the station number and a letter denoting the type of appliance.
| A | Pumper with firefighting and rescue capability | |
| B | As per Alpha | |
| C/D | Pumper with no rescue capability | |
| E | 4WD pumper with firefighting or SWR capability | |
| I | Hydraulic platform with aerial rescue and firefighting capability | |
| J | Combined Aerial Pumper Appliance | |
| K | Emergency Tender with rescue capability | |
| L | Rescue vehicle with technical rescue and swift water rescue capability | |
| S | Operational Support Unit with HAZMAT and BA support | |
| V | Water Tanker | |
| Y | 4WD Light Attack vehicle with firefighting capability, that can be equipped with SWR |
RFS brigades are named by the locality they serve. For example, Landsborough Rural Fire Brigade, Ilkley and District RFB and Maleny RFB.
RFS callsigns are formulated with the brigade name appended with the number of appliance.
| 15-24 | Firefighting Trailer | |
| 25-29 | Slip-On Unit | |
| 35-39 | Utility Terrain Vehicle (UTV) | |
| 41-49 | Light Attack | |
| 51-59 | Medium Attack | |
| 61-69 | Heavy Attack | |
| 71-79 | Water Tanker | |
| 81-89 | Support Vehicle | |
| 91-99 | Command Vehicle |
RFSQ regional offices also stock a surplus of vehicles that have retired from service with a brigade or are purpose built to be shared across the region. These have a slightly different call sign system to brigade appliances. Regional vehicles have a three letter code preceding the typical numerical call sign that indicates the region that they come from. For example, SER54 is a medium attack appliance owned by the South East regional office.
FireCom is the dispatch section of the Queensland Fire Department, providing communications across the state. Different FireCom centres across the state have different names to reflect their location and the brigades and stations that fall within their catchment zone. Rural and Urban Fire Brigades within the catchment zone of one of these centres report to their respective FireCom. Queensland Fire and Rescue stations and Rural Fire Brigades in the same region both report to the same FireCom centre and use the same codes and radio communication guidelines.
| Firecom Kawana | North Coast Region | |
| Firecom Brisbane | Brisbane Region | |
| Firecom Southport | South Eastern Region | |
| Firecom Toowoomba | South Western Region | |
| Firecom Rockhampton | Central Region | |
| Firecom Townsville | Northern Region | |
| Firecom Cairns | Far Northern Region |