The Queensland Fire Department (QFD) is the primary provider of fire services in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. The QFD was established on the 1st of July, 2024, and has committed to a refocus on firefighting operations after the organisational change from QFES. The QFD’s headquarters are located at the Emergency Services Complex in Kedron,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. In 2021, personnel included 2,600 full-time (professional)

firefighter A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...

s and 2,000 on-call auxiliary firefighters, and approximately 27,000 Rural Fire Service volunteers. The

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a Parliament, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, ...

minister responsible for QFD is the Minister for Fire, Disaster Recovery and Volunteers, currently the Honourable

Ann Leahy Ann Leahy (born 8 August 1971) is an Australian politician. She has been the Liberal National Party member for Warrego in the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 2015. Leahy now serves as Minister for Local Government, Water, Fire, Disaster ...

History

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 The State Emergency Service (SES) is the name used by a number of separate civil defence organisations in Australia that provide assistance during and after major incidents. Specifically, the services deal with floods, storms and tsunamis, b ...

, 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. On Monday 3 June 2024, the

(SES) was moved to the

Queensland Police Service The Queensland Police Service (QPS) is the principal law enforcement agency responsible for policing the Australian state of Queensland. In 1990, the Queensland Police Force was officially renamed the Queensland Police Service and the old motto ...

; along with the Volunteer Marine Rescue and the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard Queensland, becoming part of the new Marine Rescue Queensland (MRQ). The QFD headquarters will be located at 240 Sandgate Road, Albion, Brisbane, with a 2025 opening date.

Organisation

QFD is an agency which provides fire and rescue services to the entire state of Queensland. Queensland Fire and Rescue (QFR) being the primary agency and Rural Fire Service Queensland (RFSQ) being the bushfire response outside of the main populated areas. QFR stations are located in cities and regional towns and their primary duty is responding to fires and rescues requiring specialist equipment utilised by QFR. Other primary duties of QFR firefighters are to respond to hazardous materials, technical rescues, and interagency requests for assistance. 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 limited road crash rescue training, and a small amount of remote brigades also have the capacity to respond to structure fires. They often partner with other government and private agencies as well as landholders to carry out bush firefighting, bushfire prevention, and community education activities.

Queensland Fire and Rescue

Since the merger of the fire boards in 1990, the Queensland state firefighting agency has operated under several names: * Queensland Fire Service 1990–1997 * Queensland Fire and Rescue Authority 1997–2001 * Queensland Fire and Rescue Service 2001–2024 * Queensland Fire and Rescue 2024–present Queensland Fire and Rescue is made up of approximately 2600 professional and 2000 auxiliary (on-call) firefighters. The State of QLD is divided into various regions to allow for the correct allocation of units from various dispatch centers (FireCom). These regions are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. QFRS appliances are named after their region, station number, and appliance type, in that order. So a QFRS appliance in Brisbane region, at .... station, that is a Class A firefighting and rescue pumper, would be called 501A. Most QFRS appliances have been recorded in the table below. The table displays QFRS appliances based on their region, station and appliance type as previously mentioned. Unit List Appliance Naming

Rural Fire Service

* Rural Fire Board 1927–1931 * Rural Fire Board 1948–1990 * Rural Fire Service Queensland 1990–present 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 Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. 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.

References

External links

QFES Official siteRural Fire Service siteState Emergency Service siteQueensland Rural Fires Board oral history

State Library of Queensland State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...

{{Authority control Fire and rescue services of Australia Emergency services in Queensland 1860 establishments in Australia