Red Yellow: What’s the difference?

First and foremost, let’s be very clear;

We’re one team with one focus: your safety.

Queensland Fire Department

Uniforms and truck colours may differ, but every part of the Queensland Fire Department works together. Paid or volunteer, urban or rural, your protection is always the priority.

When you call 000, highly trained staff direct the right capability to the incident.

Queensland is vast. With people spread across such a large state, frontline capability is delivered by Queensland Fire and Rescue (red trucks) and the Rural Fire Service Queensland (yellow trucks). Each has a defined role, intense training and local knowledge.

Rural Fire Service Queensland (RFSQ)

Rural Fire Service firefighters are on call, and can be alerted to what is known as a FIRECALL at any time (at work, at home, asleep) if they are on ‘turnout’ duty.

RFSQ operates in 93% of the state with around 28,000 volunteers across 1,400 brigades. These volunteers know their local bush, tracks, access points, water sources, and fire history better than anyone. The Rural Fire Service provides 24/7, 365 Days for:

• Firefighting (bush) landscape fires, all Rural Fire appliances are 4WD.

• Emergency response in support of Fire and Rescue (direct support to enable increased Fire and Rescue capability, such as water supply, asset protection or any other task as required).

• Supporting casualty evacuations,

• Hazard prevention and mitigation advice,

• Issuing permits and fire warden activities,

• Remote area firefighting capabilities,

• Arduous firefighting capabilities,

• State, domestic and international bush/wildland firefighting capability,

• State, domestic and international incident management capability,

• Surge capability (strike teams),

• Specialist local knowledge of rural areas,

• Air Operations Capability,

• Animal Rescue,

• Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) capability,

• Community education and engagement and,

• Disaster management response and recovery. RFSQ maintains advanced chainsaw skills, well above the standard qualifications found elsewhere.

RFSQ members are professionally trained to national standards, working under the same legislation and procedures as Fire and Rescue, with adjustments for the rural environment. RFSQ are the experts for landscape/bushfires.

Queensland Fire and Rescue (QFR)

Fire and Rescue leads response in the built environment. Over time, their work has expanded to meet the needs of modern communities, and they continue to evolve their impressive capabilities to tackle modern challenges, such as the increased use of electrical devices. Firefighters work shifts at staffed stations and provide 24/7, 365 Days for:

• Structural Firefighting,

• Breathing apparatus and hazardous materials,

• Fire investigation,

• Vertical Rescue,

• Swiftwater floodwater rescue,

• Confined space rescue,

• Trench rescue,

• State, domestic and international Urban Search and Rescue capabilities,

• Building and safety approvals,

• Road crash rescue,

• Scientific Services (volunteers),

• State, domestic and international incident management capability and,

• Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS).

Members of Fire and Rescue are paid career firefighters, who are mostly full-time but, in some cases, are known as Auxiliary Firefighters (on call).

Fire Rescue undergo rigorous training in their specialist areas and receive an introduction to bush firefighting conducted by the Rural Fire Service; they also hold nationally recognised qualifications. They are the experts in house fires (any structure), road crashes, floodwaters and rescues.

Working together

Many areas, including Closeburn, sit in the interface zone (iZone), where rural and urban meet. Almost every incident sees both services working side by side. Sometimes, Rural Crews ask for Fire and Rescue support; sometimes it’s the other way around. We operate on the same communications network; we’re one service working together.

The community is well supported by Fire and Rescue at Eatons Hill, Arana Hills and Dayboro (Auxiliary), and locally by Rural Brigades, including ourselves, Clear Mountain, Samford, Samsonvale and Dayboro. Surge capacity is available from across the South East and the State, should it be needed to support any incident.

Some people serve in both services. That tells you everything you need to know about the shared commitment.

Red or yellow, we’re all professionally trained and equipped, we’re one organisation focused on one thing - your safety.