CFS saves more lives and property despite a rise in major incidents
04/08/2023
The SA Country Fire Service's 13,500 volunteers were kept extremely busy over the 2022-23 financial year, with crews responding to more than 10,000 incidents - a 10 per cent increase from the previous year for the state's largest emergency service.
From fires to floods, CFS volunteers attended more than two thousand road crash rescue incidents, nearly 1,400 rural fires, 156 HazMat incidents and 366 structure fires across South Australia. The CFS also responded to 3,875 special service incidents - these range from severe weather events to medical assistance for the SA Ambulance Service.
Due to the number of major weather events throughout the state, including CFS response and assistance during the River Murray flooding, the time CFS volunteers spent at special service incidents doubled from the previous year, totalling 30,546 hours.
Despite the overall increase of incidents at many of our 425 brigades, State Duty Commander Matt Davis said the outcome could have been much worse.
"The total hours our crews were required at incidents plummeted to 691,125 - compared to the one million hours we have been used to seeing in previous years," Mr Davis said.
"This means our crews saved more lives and property because they were better resourced and faster to respond, and as an agency that is often the first responder, it's critical that our growing volunteer crews have the right equipment, appliances and aircraft to deal with any emergency."
The CFS is currently holding bushfire preparedness activities across the state to ensure the community is prepared ahead of the hot, dry El Nino conditions predicted this summer.
"Informing and educating the wider community will be crucial this bushfire season in order to be prepared and hopefully keep losses to a minimum," Mr Davis said.
ASSISTANCE PROVIDED TO OTHER AGENCIES IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA AND BEYOND
- 57 people were deployed to assist with the SA flooding event.
- 24 people were deployed to Victoria for their flood relief efforts.
| RESULTS ACROSS EACH SA REGION REGION 1 - ADELAIDE HILLS, FLEURIEU PENINSULA AND KANGAROO ISLAND
REGION 2 - UPPER MOUNT LOFTY RANGES, YORKE PENINSULA AND LWR NORTH
REGION 3 - RIVERLAND AND MURRAYLANDS
REGION 4 - FLINDERS RANGES, MID NORTH AND PASTORAL AREAS
REGION 5 - SOUTH-EAST
REGION 6 - EYRE PENINSULA AND WEST COAST
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