The State Hazard Plan – Fire forms part of the Western Australian State Emergency Management Framework. It is not a DFES specific plan, rather; it is a state-level plan that outlines the roles and responsibilities that support a comprehensive approach to the management of fire across prevention, preparation, response and recovery (PPRR), in Western Australia.

State Hazard Plans are emergency management plans, required under section 18.1 of the Emergency Management Act 2005 (EM Act). State Hazard Plans, outline the strategic arrangements for managing prescribed hazards across the PPRR spectrum. The SEMC has delegated responsibility for the development, maintenance, review and exercising of the arrangements for prescribed hazards that are outlined in State Hazard Plans to the relevant Hazard Management Agency (HMA). The Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner is the responsible HMA for the hazard of fire.

State Hazard Plan – Fire has been approved by the State Emergency Management Committee (SEMC) and is the approved document for fire management in Western Australia. Section 1.3 and appendix C of State Hazard Plan-Fire outlines the agreed roles and responsibilities of state agencies and public authorities.

As the Hazard Management Agency (HMA) for Fire, the Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner assigned responsibility for the review of State Hazard Plan - Fire to DFES Assistant Commissioner Metropolitan Operations. The review itself was undertaken by a Review Team consisting of DFES operational personnel and the State Emergency Management Policy Branch.

The Review was conducted in accordance with State Emergency management policy review protocols. The Review team established an objective for the plan – “Develop a Plan designed to inform WA stakeholders of prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery arrangements to limit the impact of the hazard of fire on the community of Western Australia.” and a suite of principles to make sure that any changes made to the Plan were aligned and within scope.

The review of State Hazard Plan – Fire was informed by extensive stakeholder consultation undertaken over 13 months from April 2024 to May 2025. Key stakeholders, including Controlling Agencies, WALGA, Department of Communities, WA Police Force and SEMC Subcommittees and reference groups were engaged throughout the consultation to enable ongoing feedback and plan refinement. Formal public consultation feedback was sought during a 12-week period from September 2024 to December 2024 via the Engage WA website. The Review team received and considered feedback from more than 150 submissions, and this informed the final draft presented to SEMC for approval.

The HMA recommended minimum training standards are drawn from the DFES Bushfire Service Volunteer Training Program which was established in 2018. The Review Team, worked closely with the DFES Bushfire Centre of Excellence (BCoE), prior to publishing the HMA recommended training standards. These standards have been supported by WALGA and DBCA.

The HMA recommended minimum training standards for bushfire response have been published on the DFES website under the “publications” heading. Additionally, the State Hazard Plan – Fire has a QR code in Section 3.4 “Preparing for Response” that will take you directly to the DFES webpage.

No, however, it is recommended that Controlling Agencies (DFES, DBCA and Local Governments) train to a standard no less than the HMA recommended minimum training standards to ensure the safety of responders and improve interoperability between Controlling Agencies.

It is strongly recommended that Controlling Agencies adopt the HMA recommended minimum training standards; however, if a Controlling Agency chooses not to adopt the standards, then it is recommended that they demonstrate equivalence by mapping (documented comparison) their training standards and course content against the HMA recommended minimum training standards to ensure that they meet or exceed the standards. This is important to ensure that Controlling Agencies and Incident Controllers are able to confirm that all responders on a fire ground are suitably trained.

The Recognition of Prior Learning process relates to nationally accredited training such as those in the Public Safety Training Package. As the HMA recommended minimum training standards do not contain any nationally accredited courses, a Recognition of Current Competence (RCC) process is appropriate in this instance. A factsheet provides further details on the RCC process.

Yes. The online Rural Fire Awareness training is available to everyone and can be accessed through the DFES website via the Bushfire tab - Bushfire Centre of Excellence tab – Training tab. You can register as an external user to the DFES eAcademy learning management system which will give you access to the course. For further information on the course and how to access it, please read the Course Information Sheet.

Each Controlling Agency (DFES, DBCA, local government), should ensure that they have access to current training records that identifies response personnel who have been trained to the HMA recommended minimum training standards.

Controlling Agencies should reinforce the importance of only having appropriately trained people on a fireground to all response personnel including Incident Controllers as part of routine preparation actions prior to responding to a fire.

If you are an Incident Controller and it is unclear, then seek clarification from your agency's emergency management specialist.

Appendix D of State Hazard Plan - Fire identifies the initial Controlling Agency by “area of responsibility”.

Yes. Section 4.4 of State Hazard Plan – Fire provides further information relating to the transfer of Control between Controlling Agencies. Appendix E1 shows a flow chart for the transfer of control of a fire from either a local government or DBCA to DFES, and Appendix E2 shows a flow chart for the transfer of control between a local government to DBCA or DBCA to a local government.

The first arriving crew at a fire must contact the designated Controlling Agency when they have arrived and provide any updates and/or reports to the appropriate Controlling Agency as required.

Further information regarding initial Controlling Agencies based on area of responsibility can be found within Appendix D of SHP - Fire.