MINISTER BOYD PROUDLY SUPPORTS GROWTH IN FIREY NUMBERS
In parliament on Thursday 21 March 2024, the Minister for Fire and Rescue the Hon Ms Nikki Boyd made some very supportive comments about the government being proud of their support of professional firefighters.
The Minister also made some positive comments about the current growth in firefighter numbers, referring to the over 500 additional firefighters currently being recruited in addition to attrition recruitment. Minister Boyd stated ‘The Miles government wants more firefighters’. The statements went on to support additional firefighter numbers assisting to keep Queensland communities safe.
Recruitment in the period 2015 – 2025 will, for the first time since the amalgamation of the various fire boards, result in over 700 more professional fulltime firefighters working across Queensland (including the 500 the Minister referred to). This continues to be the first and only genuine uplift in firefighter numbers in Queensland since the 1970’s.
These numbers are a direct result of your union advocating for these increases. Not one of those additional firefighters were recruited as a result of QFES management thinking that was a good idea. I have previously thanked, and I again thank, each of the Ministers responsible for the Fire and Rescue portfolio for engaging with and working with your union to achieve these results.
Where are all these firefighters going? Here are some of the ways they are being used up -
• Increasing the number of firefighters crewed per shift at each station from 4 to 6 at every station in the state, every day and night, ensuring training requirements are met and that firefighters can take leave when they want to.
• Crewing special appliances in certain locations.
• Providing numbers to the firefighter school to ensure enough expertise is available to train recruits.
• Expanding all current 5-day stations to 7-day crewing, and also some stations from 7 day to 10/14 crewing.
• Establishing a fulltime 7-day crew at certain stations where there was an auxiliary crew.
Every one of these enhancements work to improve the way you and your colleagues can keep Queenslanders and their communities safe from loss of life or property via the various planning, preparation, response and recovery functions and roles performed only by professional firefighters.
To be clear, the increase currently underway will be fully operationally utilised. Any suggestion that there will be overplots available to shift around at whim, or surplus firefighters anywhere in the state, is easily countered via any examination of the current operational requirements. Minister Boyd is committed to the uplifted numbers responding to Queensland communities in fire appliances, and not sitting in offices on projects or other non-response duties.
Your union will continue to work to expand the number of professional fire and rescue stations across the state, expand existing stations to fully crew all of them (including further crewing committed to specials in some locations) and whatever else is necessary to further grow the ranks of professional firefighters in Queensland beyond the current numbers funded by the government.
John Oliver - General Secretary