In April a request was received from the Roleystone Volunteer Fire Brigade to handover the City’s Bush Fire Brigade in Roleystone to the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES). The City has not made a decision on this but will be considering a report on the matter at its Corporate Services Committee meeting on Tuesday 22 June. The report will then be considered by the full Council on Monday 28 June.
The City values its volunteer firefighters and has been responsible for and supported the Roleystone Bush Fire Brigade for many, many decades. The report recommends that we continue to do this. It recommends that we maintain the City’s Bush Fire Brigade and support DFES to find a new site for their Roleystone Volunteer Fire and Rescue Brigade.
The report does not recommend removing the Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service from the Roleystone town site, it recommends supporting DFES with the transition to a new site as the Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service have outgrown the current site. Currently the two brigades are trying to operate from the same site and operate under different legislation, governance and operating procedures which has been causing tensions for some years.
The request from the Roleystone Volunteer Fire Brigade for the two brigades to be managed by DFES is not supported by all members, and the City and councillors have been approached by members concerned about the Bush Fire Brigade being handed over to DFES.
By way of background, there are two brigades, the City’s Bush Fire Brigade which services the large area surrounding the town site and the DFES Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service which services the immediate town site area. The City’s Bush Fire Brigade respond to Bush Fires while the DFES Volunteer Fire and Rescue Brigade deal with house fires and car crashes. The two brigades currently occupy the City’s Fire Station building. The City’s Bush Fire Brigade have a white truck and a smaller white landcruiser fast attack vehicle, while the DFES Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service have a red fire truck. The report does not recommend that the red fire truck is taken out of the town site.
The report recommends that the DFES Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service is relocated to another site and that the City would support DFES in this transition. This would require a new facility to be constructed by the State government who provide the Volunteer Fire and Rescue service to town sites. Landowners in the town site are charged for the Volunteer Fire and Rescue by the State under their Emergency Services Levy. The City’s Bush Fire Brigade would remain in the City provided Fire Station.
The City has tried to resolve some of the long standing issues that arise from the two brigades having to operate under different legislation, governance and operating procedures. The City conducted a confidential survey of members and positive workshops were held with brigade management representatives in October and December 2020 with a willingness of all parties to work toward solutions. A further workshop was to be held in February but was not scheduled due to the Wooroloo fires. The subsequent request to handover the Bush Fire Brigade received in April came as a surprise given the open and constructive communications that had been had at the workshops.
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