State Budget 2024: DFES to add 60 firefighters as part of $75.4m investment in bolstering emergency services

Reinforcements are on the way for next summer’s bushfire season with the Cook Government recruiting 60 extra career firefighters, completing the biggest expansion of frontline personnel in more than 50 years. The hiring spree headlines a $75.4 million investment in emergency services that includes upgrades to more than a dozen stations and new communications and rescue equipment for volunteer firefighters. It means the number of career firefighters added since the 2021 election will rise to 132 – the most in a single term of government for more than half a century. Premier Roger Cook said the expansion – to be confirmed in next month’s State Budget – was designed to bolster the State’s defences against fire seasons that were “becoming longer, more severe and putting more lives and homes at risk”. “My government is committed to doing whatever it takes to protect our community,” Mr Cook said. “This significant investment will ensure we have the resources we need on the ground to respond to fire and protect lives and homes from the threat of fires.” Around one third of the new spending - $23 million – will go towards employing an additional 60 career firefighters, representing a 5.6 per cent increase to a workforce that currently stands at 1075. Some $5.8 million will progress the replacement of the Maddington and Armadale fire stations while another $4.9 million will go towards installing female-specific facilities at 10 locations. Decontamination showers – a long-standing demand of the union representing firefighters – will be provide at 14 new stations at a cost of $2.8 million. The State’s volunteer firefighters will benefit from an $8.6 million cash injection, which will go towards upgrading communications equipment, the gear required for road crash rescues and volunteer stations. The remaining $30 million – announced last month – is for specialist bushfire management staff and new firefighting equipment for Parks and Wildlife, which is responsible for WA’s prescribed burning program. Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson said the Department of Fire and Emergency Services had responded to more than 17,000 callouts – including fires, road crashes and HAZMAT incidents – since the start of October. “These additional 60 career firefighters will mean this term has seen the biggest boost to our frontline fire and emergency services responders in more than 50 years, providing enhanced support to our State’s prevention, preparedness, response and recovery capabilities,” Mr Dawson said. DFES Commissioner Darren Klemm welcomed the funding boost, which he said was necessary to keep pace with increasing demand. “We know that with a changing climate, natural disasters are becoming more prevalent, bushfire seasons are becoming longer and increasing in severity and structural fire and road crash rescue incidents are becoming far more complex,” Mr Klemm said. “An extra 60 firefighters will help us meet these challenges.” The United Professional Firefighters Union of WA last year launched a campaign demanding the addition of nearly 700 career firefighters. Claiming there had been a long-running “erosion and diminishment” of the fire service, union president Clem Chan said at the time 693 new fireys were needed to lift WA from the lowest per capita coverage to the national average.