Volunteer Professionals - NSW Rural Fire Service - NSW Government

04 OBJECTIVE It became apparent during the year, and particularly at the time of the Christmas 2001
bushfires, that the levels of competency – at managerial and operational levels of the
Service – had improved substantially since the 1994 bushfire emergency.
It is beyond question that the investment of money and time reaped dividends over
and above what could reasonably have been expected of a volunteer organisation.
The Service’s relatively small cadre of full-time training staff worked exceptionally
hard to meet high demands for training at local levels and their efforts are to be
commended. Complementing the commitment of the training staff was an equal
commitment from volunteers wishing to improve their competency levels over the
full range of training programs. Currently, out of a Service membership of 65,395,
the levels of firefighter qualifications and classifications are as follows:
• 33,962 active firefighters are competent to Bush Firefighter (BF) level or higher;
• 5,142 brigade officers are certified competent to Crew Leader (CL) level or higher;
• 760 members certified competent to Group Leader (GL) level or higher;
• 1,793 members successfully completed Service first aid training.
To support the Service’s training activities there are 1,579 local instructors and
432 assessors.
The Service renewed its status as a registered training organisation with the NSW
Vocational Education and Training Accreditation Board (VETAB).
Overall, the Training Committee developed training direction through significant input
by salaried staff and volunteers, the prime emphasis being placed upon the
development of rural fire districts as local learning units. A key component of this
type of development is the high levels of local input and control of each local
learning unit. Individual districts were networked to other parts of the Service to
form an adaptable, integrated learning organisation.
The introduction of a Public Safety Training package next year will provide a main
qualification route for operational staff and volunteers.
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NSW Rural Fire Service Annual Report 2001/02