Volunteer fire brigade

A volunteer fire department (VFD) is a fire department composed of volunteers who perform fire suppression and other related emergency services for a local jurisdiction. A volunteer fire department can act in support of a professional, paid fire department, or it can act as the primary response agency in an area. This varies between jurisdictions.

The first large organized force of firefighters was the Corps of Vigiles, established in ancient Rome in 6 AD.

The term "volunteer" contrasts with career firefighters who are fully compensated for their services. Some volunteer firefighters may be part of a combination fire department that utilizes both full-time and volunteer firefighters. In this way, a station can be staffed 24 hours between volunteer and career firefighters. Both provide essential staffing on apparatuses during their assigned staffing hours.

The term "volunteer" may also be used in reference to a group of part-time or on-call firefighters who may have other occupations when not engaged in occasional firefighting. Although they may have "volunteered" to become members and to respond to the call for help, they may be compensated as employees during the time they are responding to or attending an emergency scene, and possibly for training. An on-call firefighter may also volunteer time for other non-emergency duties as well (training, fundraising, equipment maintenance, etc.).

Volunteer firefighters go through some of the same training as career personnel do. When volunteers join a department, they often sign up for firefighting classes and other certifications that teach them what they need to know to become a volunteer firefighter. Some departments also require recruits to complete a certain amount of in-house training. During this time, often called the probationary period, the recruit is known as a probationary firefighter, or "probie". Once the probationary period is complete, the member is eligible to become a full firefighter.

Throughout Australia there are many volunteer firefighting agencies which are set up by the individual states or territories. New South Wales is serviced by two statutory firefighting authorities. These are the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSWRFS) and Fire and Rescue NSW. Fire and Rescue NSW has firefighting and rescue responsibilities for the major cities, metropolitan areas and several other towns in NSW. It also has the responsibility for all land based HAZMAT incidents as well as inland waterway based HAZMAT incidents. The NSWRFS is the volunteer firefighting service in NSW and consists of over 70,000 volunteers and has responsibility for over 90% of the land area in NSW. Although most of this is bush and grass land, the NSWRFS also serve smaller and regional communities that are not covered by Fire and Rescue NSW. Despite some overlapping in firefighting coverage/resources by both services it should be noted that the NSWRFS does not provide rescue or HAZMAT services in the State.

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Wikipedia