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NSW Premier Chris Minns has called on volunteers to join the RFS.
“If you’ve been on the fence or thought about being a hero and joining the RFS, this is a great opportunity,” he said on Saturday. “We’re looking to hire more. I think there are tens of thousands of people out there who would be great firefighters.”
Rural Fire Service RAFT team members return after a day of remote firefighting in the Hawkesbury in October. Credit: Wolter Peeters
reporter Today, the RFS is significantly smaller than the 70,000-strong force it has on paper, according to private documents.
The number of trained firefighters now stands at just over 45,000, the organization said in a special statement to the Productivity Commission last year.
According to 2023 RFS documents obtained under freedom of information laws, approximately 16,240 RFS volunteers hold a “village firefighter qualification”; This means they can fight other fires likely to be found in small buildings, vehicles or a village environment.
