Bushfire Response

The overall responsibility for suppression of bushfires in the ACT lies with the Emergency Services Agency, and specifically the ACT Rural Fire Service (ACT RFS). Parks Conservation and Lands as a land manager, is responsible for limiting the spread of fire on it’s lands and fire management is recognised as an integral part of land management. Accordingly, Parks Conservation and Lands has a dedicated Fire Management section and a large fire suppression capability, in the form of the Parks Brigade.

The Parks Brigade

The Parks Brigade is a member brigade of the ACT Rural Fire Service and is the largest of the 10 brigades. Unlike the other brigades in the ACT RFS that are made up of volunteers, all members of the Parks Brigade are professional firefighters, drawn from within Parks, Conservation and Lands, and include rangers, park workers, technical and other specialist staff.

All Parks firefighters are highly trained and as well as crewing 7 heavy tankers, 9 light units and heavy plant (dozers and graders), Parks provides the RFS with specialist firefighting staff including senior incident management personnel, incident controllers, remote area fire teams, aerial observers, GIS specialists and fire investigators.

Parks crews are on standby and available for response throughout the bushfire season with the daily bushfire danger determining the number of staff and resources available for immediate response on any given day.

Outside the bushfire season, Parks firefighters plan and undertake numerous hazard reduction burns throughout the ACT, as well as physical fuel removal, firetrail maintenance and fire infrastructure works programs.