Fire Brigades Act 1989

This Act may be cited as the Fire and Rescue NSW Act 1989.

This Act commences on a day or days to be appointed by proclamation.

In this Act—

Commissioner means the person employed in the Public Service as the Commissioner of Fire and Rescue NSW.

community fire unit means a community fire unit established under section 74B.

Council means the New South Wales Fire Brigades Advisory Council constituted by this Act.

fire brigade means a permanent fire brigade or a retained fire brigade, but does not include a rural fire brigade.

fire district means an area constituted as a fire district under section 5.

flammable matter includes—

any substance capable of ignition or combustion by the application of heat, by means of sparks or spontaneously, and

any substance prescribed as flammable for the purposes of this definition.

hazardous material means anything that, when produced, stored, moved, used or otherwise dealt with without adequate safeguards to prevent it from escaping, may cause injury or death or damage to property.

hazardous material incident means an actual or impending land-based spillage or other escape of hazardous material that causes or threatens to cause injury or death or damage to property.

local government area has the same meaning as area has in the Local Government Act 1993.

officer in charge, in relation to a place at which a fire brigade is present, means the Commissioner or, if the Commissioner is absent—

the person for the time being in charge of any members of a permanent fire brigade present at that place, or

if no members of a permanent fire brigade are present, the person for the time being in charge of any members of a retained fire brigade present at that place.

owner, in relation to land or a building, means—

any person for the time being in actual receipt of, or entitled to receive, the rents and profits of the land or building, or

any person who, if the land or building were let to a tenant, would be entitled to receive the rents and profits of it,

whether as beneficial owner, trustee, executor, mortgagee in possession, or as agent or attorney for any other person, or otherwise.

permanent fire brigade means a permanent fire brigade established and maintained by the Commissioner, the services of whose members are wholly at the disposal of the Commissioner.

policy of insurance includes—

any certificate or declaration as to the existence of, and any agreement for, any insurance, or

any instrument in writing by which any contract of insurance is made or agreed to be made or is evidenced,

but does not include a policy of reinsurance.

prescribed waters means—

coastal waters of the State, within the meaning of Part 10 of the Interpretation Act 1987, and

waters within the limits of the State prescribed as the boundaries of a port under section 105 of the Ports and Maritime Administration Act 1995, and

other waters within the limits of the State prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this definition.

retained fire brigade means an association of persons for which an approval as a retained fire brigade is in force under section 9, but does not include a rural fire brigade.

vessel means any ship, barge, punt, boat or other floating vessel used wholly or partly for storing or carrying goods or for carrying passengers.

Note.

The Interpretation Act 1987 contains definitions and other provisions that affect the interpretation and application of this Act.

In this Act—

a reference to a function includes a reference to a power, authority and duty, and

a reference to the exercise of a function includes, where the function is a duty, a reference to the performance of the duty.

Notes included in this Act (Schedule 1 excepted) do not form part of this Act.

This Act applies to all fire districts.

This Act applies to land-based hazardous material incidents (and to any fires that may result from them) that occur anywhere in the State except on prescribed waters.

A hazardous material incident that occurs in or on a building, bridge or other structure or on any body of water (not being part of prescribed waters) is taken to be land-based.

This section has effect subject to sections 20 and 20A.

In this section—

reserved area means land within a national park, historic site or state conservation area within the meaning of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 or any other land reserved or dedicated under that Act.

The Governor may, by order published in the Gazette, constitute an area as a fire district, the area so constituted being described by reference to a local government area or reserved area or in any other manner.

Editorial note.

For orders constituting fire districts, see the Historical notes at the end of this Act.

An area constituted as a fire district must not include any area that is within neither a local government area nor a reserved area.

A reference in an order under this section to a local government area or a reserved area is to be construed as a reference to that area with boundaries as at the date of publication of the order in the Gazette.

It is the duty of the Commissioner to take all practicable measures for preventing and extinguishing fires and protecting and saving life and property in case of fire in any fire district.

It is the duty of the Commissioner to take all practicable measures—

for protecting and saving life and property endangered by hazardous material incidents, and

for confining or ending such an incident, and

for rendering the site of such an incident safe.

The Commissioner is authorised to take measures anywhere in the State for protecting persons from injury or death and property from damage, whether or not fire or a hazardous material incident is involved and, in the case of a fire, it does not matter whether or not the persons are, or the property is, within a fire district.

The Commissioner is also authorised to—

as directed by the State Emergency Operations Controller, deal with an emergency where no other agency has lawful authority to assume command of the emergency operation, and

carry out, by accredited brigades, rescue operations allocated by the State Rescue Board, and

assist the State Emergency Operations Controller to carry out emergency management functions relating to the prevention of, preparation for and response to, and to assist the State Emergency Recovery Controller to carry out emergency management functions relating to the recovery from, emergencies, in accordance with the State Emergency and Rescue Management Act 1989, and

assist, at their request, members of the NSW Police Force, the NSW Rural Fire Service, the NSW State Emergency Service or the Ambulance Service of NSW in dealing with any incident or emergency, and

maintain effective liaison with all emergency services organisations, and

carry out such other functions as may be assigned to the Commissioner by or under this or any other Act, or by the State Emergency Operations Controller or the Minister.

The Commissioner is, in exercising the Commissioner’s functions, subject to the control and direction of the Minister.

For the purpose of exercising the Commissioner’s functions under this Part, the Commissioner may—

with the approval of the Minister, establish permanent fire brigades and form or assist in the formation of retained fire brigades, and

provide permanent and retained fire brigades with suitable premises and requisite equipment, and

maintain permanent fire brigades, and

pay subsidies to volunteer fire brigades and make payments to the members of retained fire brigades.

The Minister may approve an association of persons as a retained fire brigade if satisfied that—

the association is formed for the purpose of extinguishing fires and of taking measures referred to in section 5A (2) in relation to hazardous material incidents, and

the carrying out of that purpose is not the sole or principal occupation or means of livelihood of those persons or a majority of them (whether or not they receive any payment for their services as members of the association).

The Minister may revoke such an approval at any time by notice in writing given to the captain of the retained fire brigade or published in the Gazette.

The trustees of any real or personal property of a retained fire brigade may vest that property in the Crown, to be held by the Crown subject to the provisions of this Act but free from any other trust.

The Commissioner may exercise the Commissioner’s functions under this Act by his or her officers or agents (including the members of any permanent fire brigade) or by the members of any retained fire brigade.

The Commissioner is to have regard to the principles of ecologically sustainable development described in section 6 (2) of the Protection of the Environment Administration Act 1991 in carrying out any function that affects the environment.

When there is an alarm of fire, a fire brigade must, despite anything to the contrary in any Act, proceed with all speed to the fire and try by all possible means to extinguish it and save any lives and property that are in danger.

When there is a report of a hazardous material incident, a fire brigade must, despite anything to the contrary in any Act—

proceed with all speed to the site of the incident, and

try by all possible means to render the site of the incident safe and save any lives and property that are in danger.