The NSW government will spend $470 million over 10 years to take control of the state's Rural Fire Service fleet, assuming responsibility for maintenance and critical upgrades from local councils.
The move, starting next year, will see thousands of firefighting vehicles added to the state's books for the first time since the bush firefighting service was established in 1997.
Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib said the move would modernise the fleet, see the state assume responsibility for critical maintenance and upgrades, and create jobs in the regions.
Of the budgeted sum, more than $29 million will be carved out over two years from July 2027 to build eight regional maintenance hubs to service the fleet.
The investment is projected to support apprenticeships and industry jobs in areas where the machinery will be based.
Another $106 million, spent over four years, will go toward critical upgrades on the vehicles themselves.
First term Cessnock independent councillor Quintin King, whose tenure has been characterised by concerns for the council's ailing coffers and opposition to its pursuit of a 40 per cent rates rise, welcomed the news as a "sensible reform" local governments have been long advocating for.
He said councils had been in the "unusual position" of being required to account for the state's 'red fleet' as local assets but were not empowered to decide how and when the vehicles were used, managed or replaced.
"Councils were effectively carrying millions of dollars' worth of assets on their books that they neither owned in any practical sense nor controlled," he said on Friday, June 12.
"Good governance relies on transparency and accurate financial reporting. Having assets assigned to councils that are managed entirely by another organisation has always been difficult to justify."
Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig said councils had "made it clear" the existing arrangement was unsuitable and "no longer reflected reality".
He said the plan would see the fleet's ownership consolidated with the responsibilities of its operation, effectively scrapping archaic legislation from a time when rural firefighting was largely a local concern.
The century-old legislative precedent dividing government responsibilities was rationalised as vesting firefighting resources in community administrations with deep local knowledge of the landscape and conditions where they would be used.
Parliamentary reports last year detailed how, after the Eastern Seaboard fires of 1994, coronial findings recommended a more consolidated emergency services command structure.
The result was a split system in which councils accounted for the vehicles while the RFS controlled their use and replacement.
"This reform establishes, for the first time, a consistent and modern approach to fleet management across NSW," RFS commissioner Trent Curtin said, cosigning the government's announcement.
"It strengthens safety, improves reliability and ensures our members are always ready to respond when communities need them most."
Mr Curtin said firefighters relied on their equipment daily in facing "the most demanding and unpredictable conditions", adding the reform would give crews confidence in the field.
"This is a landmark and momentous reform for the RFS and one of the most significant investments in our operational capability in recent years," he said.
