The NSW auditor-general has issued a warning to the state’s Rural Fire Service. 

The Rural Fire Service (RFS) in New South Wales (NSW) is failing to gather the necessary data to improve its response to bushfires and lacks an overarching strategy for resource deployment, according to a report published by NSW auditor-general Margaret Crawford. 

The audit, covering the period from 2017 to 2022, found that the RFS had not conducted future-focused fleet research or planning into technologies that match fleet capabilities to emerging or future fire risks. 

It also revealed that the RFS does not measure the time it takes for brigades to reach fires or assess the number and size of fires in each of its 44 NSW Rural Fire Districts.

The absence of this data makes it impossible to determine whether resources are being distributed appropriately. 

The RFS is the lead combat agency for bushfires in NSW, but the majority of its firefighting fleet is owned by local councils. 

The report found that 63 per cent of service agreements between the RFS and councils had not been updated in the last ten years, and the fleet management system was described as “time-consuming” and “inefficient”. 

This arrangement created confusion about who is responsible for the maintenance and management of resources.

Ms Crawford recommended the RFS develop a fleet enhancement framework informed by an assessment of current fleet capabilities that could meet the future fire risks across the state. 

The NSW government funding has failed to match the cost of replacing the state's ageing firefighting fleet. 

In 2019, the RFS asked the NSW government for an increase to its baseline funding with 424 assets beyond their service life and 1908 assets due for replacement within the next decade. 

The total funding for the fleet renewal was estimated at $554.9 million. However, as of June 2022, the state government had provided the RFS just $150.3 million towards new firefighting assets.

In response to the audit, the RFS said it did not agree with the manner in which the review arrived at its findings, but it agreed with its recommendations and is working on a range of improvements to its service. 

“The service has commenced a considerable body of work to drive improvements in the safety, delivery, rejuvenation and operation of its fleet, including the development of a Resource to Risk fleet management model, the Next Generation Fleet priority project to design the firefighting appliances of the future and a suite of research and development,” RFS said.