History
More than 100 years ago, the residents of the small town of Berrigan in south west New South Wales, banded together as firefighters to protect their community against the ever-present threat of bush fires. They were Australia's first official bush fire brigade.
Prior to 1997, bushfire fighting services in New South Wales were essentially a patchwork of more than 200 separate fire-fighting agencies working under a loose umbrella with no single chain of command. The core of the service, then as now, was the volunteer brigades that were organised along council district lines under the command of a locally appointed Fire Control Officer. Fire fighting efforts were funded by the Bush Fire Fighting Fund, established in 1949 and financed by insurance companies, local council and the State Government. A variety of State-run committees and councils oversaw bushfire operations with members drawn from various Government fire fighting agencies and council and volunteer representatives. These groups developed legislation and techniques but in the main responsibility for bushfire management was vested in individual local councils in dedicated bushfire areas as determined under the 1909 Fire Brigades Act. This Act proclaimed the areas serviced by the Board of Fire Commissioners (now Fire and Rescue NSW) and covered the urban areas of Sydney and Newcastle together with most regional and country towns of any significance.
In January 1994, extreme weather conditions resulted in over 800 bushfires breaking out along the coast of NSW. More than 800,000 hectares of land and 205 homes were burned. 120 people were injured and 4 people were killed, including 1 volunteer firefighter from the Wingello Bush Fire Brigade (7 were also injured) http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/dsp_more_info.cfm?CON_ID=1219&CAT_ID=612.. The financial cost of the disaster was estimated at $165 million. The lengthy Coronial Inquiry that followed recommended the State Government introduce a single entity responsible for the management of bush fires in NSW. The 1997 Rural Fires Act was proclaimed on 1 September, with Phil Koperberg announced as Commissioner. As Director-General of the Department of Bush Fire Services, Koperberg had been in command of the fire agencies battling the 1994 fires and was instrumental in developing the legislation that led to the Rural Fires Act.
Read more about this topic: New South Wales Rural Fire Service
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