The opinions expressed in this article are the members own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Volunteer Firefighters Association (VFFA). The VFFA respects all objective views of NSWRFS members and members of the public, and any views or opinions are not intended to malign any group, club, organisation, company or individual. The VFFA is supportive of open dialogue, full transparency and we encourage others to come forward.
CAN THE RFS SURVIVE
THE RFS PHANTOM FIRE FIGHTERS, THE NUMBERS OF ACTIVE FIREFIGHTERS REVEALED.
Black Summer of 2019/20 saw the RFS engaged in its biggest campaign in decades. From September 2019 to February 2020 major fires were burning across the state. No District was spared.
Support from Fire and Rescue NSW, National Parks, State Forest and from other Volunteer firefighters from across Australia helped greatly in the daily battle to contain the fires and save lives. Sadly, nine firefighters made the ultimate sacrifice in protecting their community. We honour that sacrifice.
In December 2019 the Emergency Services Minister giving an interview and praising the number of volunteers on the fireground that day. When asked by a reporter whether the crews were getting tired after months of firefighting, he replied that there were many more firefighters out there ready to take over. Having fought the fires since mid-September I kept seeing the same faces on the Strike Teams that deployed for 5 days at a time, as well as those from local Brigades. I knew how hard pressed we were to put crews into the field 24 hours a day and how tired they were.
We have been repeatedly told that the RFS is 70,000 plus strong (current official number 70,829), and the largest Volunteer Fire Brigade in the world. While these numbers are repeatedly thrown out there as factual the truth is a whole different story. At recent Senate Budget hearings, Commissioner Rogers, when asked has quoted 56,000 members and more recently 45,000. When asked about the discrepancy in the numbers he quoted the latter to be Operational firefighting members. The other 11,000 are assumed to be support personnel. This leaves 14,829 with no real designation.
If these numbers were to be believed, then the RFS would be well manned to handle any eventuality. Unfortunately, those at the fire front know the figures are fabricated
The key to the whole numbers game is to define the definition of an active firefighter. For the purpose of this article, I will use the Black Summers numbers as these numbers are the only verified numbers, I have access to. I will define anyone that did the five days to qualify for the National Emergency Medal as being an active member. This works out to one day a month.
The figures from the Governor Generals Office show that only 16,656 National Emergency medals were issued to the RFS. We can reduce that number by 1,200 which were for the salaried staff that were paid to be there. We can divide the volunteers up into two groups. The first group of volunteers are members of Communication units, Incident Management Teams and Air Base Operators, all vital work and well-deserved medals. The second group of about 15,000 volunteers are those manning the red trucks. This thin yellow line protecting our communities is a far cry from 45,000 the Commissioner claimed at an official hearing.
Is the Commissioner totally unaware of the number of actual active members out there or is this why he gets so heated when asked about an audit on volunteer numbers.
Who is responsible for these overinflated numbers? If you believe Commissioner Rogers, it is the volunteer’s fault. In both the Senate estimates hearing and the TV interview he stated that “the volunteer’s give him the numbers” so if the numbers are wrong, it must be those lying volunteer’s fault. I know I have never been asked to give him any numbers.
TRUE VOLUNTEER NUMBER
I, like many of the 15,000 active firefighters that fought the Black Summer Bushfires, feel completely betrayed by Government Departments and our Politicians. We put our lives on hold and put in countless days in on the fire ground. We felt deeply the loss of houses and the rising death toll. Many felt like I did that we had let our community down. Many still suffer mental stress. We see things out there that people should not see. We are constantly exposed to carcinogenic smoke, with long term effects on our health. We don’t seek reward we do this for our community.
During the fires everyone wanted to get next to us for photo opportunities, and to tell us what a heroic job we were doing. However, since the fires have gone, we are only good for background scenery for when new aircraft are handed over to the RFS Airforce, Flood Boats for the RFS Navy or new trucks that, in the country, will go out undermanned.
VERIFYING THE NUMBERS
I have quoted the figure that I believe represents the true number of ACTIVE firefighters. Can the RFS verify their reported numbers. The answer is quite simply yes, but they will not because it won’t match their storyline.
Every time a Brigade is responded to an incident, even if they are stood down before they arrive, a Brigade Incident Report (BIRs) is logged on the computer. This gives the Brigade Unit, incident number and crew members. I am no computer expert, but it should be possible to get the numbers off there, all that is missing is the will.
If we had 45000 volunteers our current rate of loss of experienced members would be a reason for concern. With 15,000 volunteers the rate of loss should have the alarm bells ringing. Many members fed up with the bullying and harassment, walk away without officially resigning. Fewer numbers mean more commitment from those that remain. Cost of living, work commitments and family put a lot of strain on the time that can be committed.
The easiest thing to destroy in an organisation is moral, but it is the hardest thing to build up as it first requires trust, and that is one thing the service greatly lacks.
Name, address and brigade supplied.