About us
The South Australian Country Fire Service (CFS) serves communities through dedicated volunteers delivering professional fire and rescue services to outer metropolitan, regional and rural South Australia.
We are an all-hazards agency responding to bushfire, building fire, road crash rescue and hazardous material spills.
We work alongside the SA Metropolitan Fire Service and State Emergency Service, and with local government to help with strategies for fuel reduction and to educate the community about bushfires and fire safety.
We have strong representation throughout South Australia:
- 13,500 volunteers, including cadets and operational support members, who are committed to supporting their communities
- 425 brigades
- 33 HAZMAT brigades
- 66 Road Crash Rescue brigades
- 6 regions
- 51 groups
- a State Training Centre
- a fleet of over 800 fire trucks.
We have divided South Australia into six regions – each managed by a Regional Commander. Find out about the regions and how they are made up.
Read the CFS Strategic Plan 2021-2025 (PDF 1.64Mb)
Vision
The South Australian Country Fire Service is the best volunteer fire and rescue service in the world.
Our ambitions
The CFS ambitions are:
- As CFS members, we recognise and value our role in supporting others in their time of need. We actively and positively contribute to the safety and wellbeing of South Australians, and to the economic welfare of the State.
- We attract and retain the best volunteers and staff possible, who are proud of their association with the Service.
- We value the commitment of our volunteers and staff, and want them to be enhanced by their service.
- We always prioritise Safety and Operational Readiness using evidence-based data, and ensure that we are ready to face all challenges.
- We are smart and effective at managing resources, investing wisely and managing finances prudently.
- We are, and will continue to be, an influential partner in emergency response policy development in Australia.
- We are a trusted public sector agency working in partnership across the Emergency Services Sector and the South Australian Government.
Our values
The community of South Australia expects the CFS to conduct its business with professionalism, accountability, integrity and respect. The actions, decisions and interactions of CFS members must:
- be consistent with legislation and policy
- be transparent and open to public scrutiny
- be soundly based on CFS values and their guiding principles, and
- consider individual, group and community safety as their highest priority.
Our core values are all of equal importance:
- Mutual Respect
- Integrity and Trust
- Adaptability and Resourcefulness
- Teamwork: One Team, Many Players, One Purpose
- Support, Friendship and Camaraderie
- Community and Our Environment
- Safety and Welfare
- Knowledge and Ongoing Learning
Our structure
The CFS evolved from a long and complex partnership between volunteers, local government and the South Australian government to meet community safety needs for dealing with fires in rural areas.
In 1989, the State Government revised the Country Fires Act and Regulations. This enabled it to develop a standardised service that could respond quickly to emergencies across South Australia rather than individually run local services.
In the late 1990s, the State Government made further changes to ensure the CFS was properly equipped. It made major changes to funding for the CFS and combined the administration of the service with several other emergency services.
The State Government proclaimed the Fire and Emergency Services Act 2005 on 1 October 2005. This supersedes the Country Fires Act as the governing legislation for the SA Country Fire Service. Following reviews of bushfire prevention activities after the Wangary fire, in 2009 the Government legislated a new approach to coordinating bushfire risk reduction through the State Bushfire Coordination Committee.
South Australian and Australian government legislation governs all emergency service organisations in South Australia.
Our achievements
In September 2023, the CFS was a proud winner of the 2023 SA Training Awards for the category of Large Employer of the Year in recognition of the high-quality Vocational Education and Training (VET) offered to our volunteers and staff.
The award recognises a large business or enterprise that achieved excellence in the provision of nationally recognised training to their personnel.
Winning the award was a real testament to the passion, professionalism and dedication of CFS Trainer Assessor volunteers and staff from across South Australia. These individuals have contributed to the development, delivery, assessment, management and administration of quality training for CFS members for many years.
Since 2000, the CFS has been an enterprise Registered Training Organisation (RTO) and offers volunteers and staff nationally recognised training across six qualifications, three accredited short courses, and many units of competency, with the agency being one of the largest emergency service RTOs in South Australia.
The win meant the CFS progressed to represent South Australia in the national titles in Hobart where we were announced as the Bronze Recipient of the Large Employer of the Year category.
It was a fantastic achievement for our passionate volunteer and staff Trainer Assessors and the incredible contribution they make in ensuring our members know how to operate safely and provide the best possible service to the communities that they serve.
