Fire Brigades Act 1989

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.