Report on Government Services 2026

PART D, SECTION 9: RELEASED ON 3 FEBRUARY 2026

Performance – linked to Objectives

Outputs

Equity – Access

• Response times by geographic area – most recent data for all measures is either not comparable and/or not complete

Effectiveness – Response

• Response times – most recent data for all measures is either not comparable and/or not complete

Effectiveness – Prevention/mitigation

• Accidental residential structure fires – most recent data for all measures is comparable and complete
• Confinement of structure fires to room/object of origin – most recent data for all measures is comparable and complete

Effectiveness – Preparedness

• Households with a working smoke alarm – no data reported and/or no measures yet developed

Effectiveness – Sustainability

• Workforce sustainability – most recent data for all measures is comparable and complete

Efficiency

• Expenditure per person – most recent data for all measures is either not comparable and/or not complete

Outcomes

• Deaths from fire and other events – most recent data for all measures is comparable and complete
• Injuries from fire and other events – most recent data for all measures is comparable and complete
• Value of asset losses from fire and other events – most recent data for all measures is comparable and complete

A description of the comparability and completeness is provided under the Indicator results tab for each measure.

‘Response times by geographic area’ is a proxy indicator of governments’ objective to provide fire services in an equitable manner.

‘Response times by geographic area’ is defined as the time taken between the arrival of the first fire crew appliance (that is, fire engine, truck or other fire emergency vehicle) at the scene of a structure fire and the:

• initial receipt of the triple zero (000) call at the communications centre (including call taking time), by remoteness area. Response time (including call taking time) reflects jurisdictions’ overall responsiveness to the notification of a structure fire
• dispatch of the responding fire crew (excluding call taking time), by remoteness area. Response time (excluding call taking time) reflects service organisations’ responsiveness to the notification of a structure fire.

Response times are measured for emergency calls only.

Response times are calculated as the time (in minutes) within which 50% of first responding fire crews arrived at the scene of a structure fire and the time (in minutes) within which 90% of first responding fire crews arrived at the scene of a structure fire. The diagram below illustrates the steps involved in responding to an emergency from the initial receipt of an emergency call.

Many factors influence response times by geographic area including:

• land area
• population size and density
• dispersion of the population (particularly rural/urban population proportions), topography, road/transport infrastructure and traffic densities
• crew configurations, response systems and processes, and travel distances – for example, some jurisdictions include responses from volunteer stations (often in rural areas) where turnout times are generally longer because volunteers are on call as distinct from being on duty.

Similar response times across different geographies suggest equitable access by area. Low numbers of structure fire incidents often exist in remote and very remote locations. This can contribute to large fluctuations in response times in these areas.

‘Response times’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide emergency services that are accessible and responsive.

‘Response times’ is defined as the time taken between the arrival of the first fire crew appliance at the scene of a structure fire and the:

• initial receipt of the triple zero call at the communications centre. Response time (including call taking time) reflects jurisdictions’ overall responsiveness to the notification of a structure fire
• dispatch of the responding fire crew. Response time (excluding call taking time) reflects service organisations’ responsiveness to the notification of a structure fire.

Refer to the 'Response times by geographic area' indicator for further information on the scope and calculation of response times.

Shorter response times suggest that services are more accessible and responsive.

‘Accidental residential structure fires’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to contribute to the community’s management of risks through the promotion of risk reduction and mitigation activities.

‘Accidental residential structure fires’ is defined as the rate of accidental residential structure fires per 100,000 households, by selected equity groups.

Accidental residential structure fires are fires that are not deliberately lit and could have been reduced or prevented with effective education programs.

A low or decreasing incidence of accidental residential structure fires indicates greater community preparedness. Similar rates across remoteness areas and Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Socio‑Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) Index of Relative Socio‑Economic Disadvantage (IRSD) quintiles suggests similar levels of community preparedness across equity groups. Higher rates might indicate opportunities to improve community preparedness for particular equity groups.

The rate of accidental residential structure fires should be interpreted with caution. In particular, rates are affected by differences across jurisdictions in distinguishing accidental residential structure fires from structure fires resulting from other causes.

Nationally in 2024-25, the rate of accidental residential structure fires was 71.0 per 100,000 households, an increase from 56.4 in 2023-24. Over the past 10 years, the lowest rate was 55.6 per 100,000‑households (2022-23) and the highest rate was 85.4 per 100,000 households (2017-18) (figure 9.2).

This report includes data on the rates of accidental residential structure fires per 100,000 people for the following selected equity groups:

• people from regional and remote areas according to the ABS remoteness area classifications
• people living in low socio‑economic areas according to SEIFA IRSD quintile.

Nationally in 2024-25, the rate of accidental residential structure fires per 100,000 people in major cities in was 28.5%. The rate of accidental residential structure fires per 100,000 people across SEIFA quintiles ranged from 22.1% in the fourth quintile to 37.9% in the first (highest) quintile (table 9A.11).

‘Confinement of structure fires to room/object of origin’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to contribute to the community’s management of risks through the promotion of risk reduction and mitigation activities.

‘Confinement of structure fires to room/object of origin’ is defined as the proportion of structure fires confined to the room, part room or object of origin, by ignition type.

Structure fires include building fires and fires in buildings confined to non‑combustible containers. Structure fires without a value attributed to confinement are excluded.

The ignition types reported separately are: all; accidental; incendiary and suspicious; and other.

A high or increasing proportion of structure fires confined to the room, part room or object of origin is desirable.

Nationally in 2024-25, 76.4% of structure fires were confined, a decrease from a 10-year high of 78.8% in 2020-21. The rate of confinement in 2024-25 was highest for accidental structure fires (84.8%) and lowest for structure fires by other ignition types (58.5%). The rate of confinement for incendiary and suspicious structure fires in 2024-25 was 64.7% (figure 9.3).

‘Households with a working smoke alarm’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to contribute to the community’s management of risks and its preparedness.

‘Households with a working smoke alarm’ is defined as the proportion of all households with a smoke alarm that is operational/has been tested (manually in the past 12 months).

A high or increasing proportion of households with an operational smoke alarm indicates greater community preparedness.

Data is not yet available for reporting against this indicator.

Administrative data on accidental residential structure fires by smoke alarm status is available in table 9A.13. Nationally in 2024-25, 73.7% of accidental residential structure fires had a complete Australian Incident Reporting System smoke alarm operation code. The smoke alarm operated in 63.4% of these fires, but in other instances was not present (16.9%), did not operate (13.4%) or the fire was too small to activate the smoke alarm (6.3%) (table 9A.13).

Refer to Accidental residential structure fires indicator for more information.

‘Workforce sustainability’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide emergency services that are sustainable.

For firefighters, workforce sustainability refers to the capacity of the workforce to meet current and future demand.

‘Workforce sustainability’ is defined by two measures:

• ‘workforce by age group’ – the proportion of the firefighting workforce (headcount) in 10‑year age groups (under 30, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59 and 60 years or over)
• ‘workforce attrition’ – the proportion of the firefighting workforce (FTE) who exited the organisation.

The firefighting workforce includes all employed or remunerated fire service organisation personnel who deliver or manage firefighting services directly to the community and are formally trained and qualified for firefighting duties. This includes permanent, part-time and other employees, but excludes support (non-firefighting) staff.

A low or decreasing proportion of the workforce in younger age groups and/or a high or increasing proportion of the workforce in older age groups suggest potential workforce sustainability issues as staff retire. High or rising attrition rates also suggest the need for workforce planning.

Nationally in 2024-25, 65.9% of the firefighter workforce (headcount) was aged under 50 years. This is an increase from a 10-year low of 64.4% in 2021-22 (figure 9.4).

Nationally in 2024-25, the firefighter workforce (FTE) attrition rate was 2.6%, a decrease from 2.9% in 2023-24 (figure 9.5). Headcount attrition rates are also provided in table 9A.4.

‘Expenditure per person’ is a proxy indicator of governments’ objective to provide emergency services in an efficient manner.

‘Expenditure per person’ is defined as total fire service organisation expenditure per person in the population.

All else being equal, lower expenditure per person suggests greater efficiency. However, efficiency data should be interpreted with caution. High or increasing expenditure per person may reflect deteriorating efficiency. Alternatively, it may reflect changes in aspects of the service (such as improved response times), increased resourcing for fire prevention or community preparedness, or changes in the characteristics of fire events (such as more challenging fires).

Expenditure per fire is not used as a measure of efficiency because an organisation that works to reduce the number of fire incidents could erroneously appear to be less efficient due to fixed capital and labour costs.

The role of volunteers needs to be considered when interpreting this indicator. Volunteer personnel provide a substantial proportion of fire services (and emergency services more generally). While training and equipment costs associated with volunteers are included in the cost of fire service provision, the labour costs of providing fire services would be greater without volunteers (assuming these functions were still performed).

Time series data for real recurrent expenditure and capital costs (including associated costs for the user cost of capital) for each jurisdiction is reported in table 9A.15. Information on the treatment of assets by emergency management agencies is presented in table 9.5 in the 'Explanatory material'.

Nationally in 2024-25, total fire service organisation expenditure per person in the population was $253 (figure 9.6). This is slightly lower than the highest level in the past 10 years, which was for the 2019-20 Australian bushfires year ($258 per person) and the lowest was in 2016-17 ($202 per person).

Expenditure data disaggregated by labour, capital and other costs is available in table 9A.15. Expenditure data for STES organisations is available in table 9A.16.

‘Deaths from fire and other events’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to reduce the adverse effects of emergency events on the community (including people, property, infrastructure, the economy and the environment).

‘Deaths from fire and other events’ is defined by three measures:

• fire death rate – deaths, per million people, where the underlying cause of death was fire related to smoke, fire and flames, and including all (structure and landscape) fires
• landscape fire death rate – deaths, per million people, resulting from landscape fires only as confirmed by a coroner or inquest or provisionally by the incident controller or by media reports
• exposure to forces of nature death rate – deaths, per million people, resulting from exposure to forces of nature, including flood, earthquake and excessive natural heat.

Annual fire and exposure to forces of nature death rates can be volatile because of the small number of fire and exposure to forces of nature deaths and the influence of large irregular events.

No deaths or a decreasing rate of fire and exposure to forces of nature deaths is desirable.

Road traffic death rates are reported as contextual information in table 9A.17. Further information on road deaths (per 100,000 registered vehicles) and traffic accident hospitalisations are available in the Police services section of this report.

‘Injuries from fire and other events’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to reduce the adverse effects of events on the community (including people, property, infrastructure, the economy and the environment).

‘Injuries from fire and other events’ is defined by two measures:

• total fire injuries – rate of hospitalised fire injury cases per 100,000 people (annual data)
• extreme weather-related injuries – rate of hospitalised injury cases per 100,000 people resulting from extreme weather-related events, reported separately for heat, bushfire, cold, rain and storms (sum of three years).

Estimates of injuries from fire and other extreme weather-related events are based on hospital separations data in the National Hospital Morbidity Database. Data excludes admitted patients transferred from another hospital, patients who died in hospital and patients admitted for rehabilitation.

Numbers and rates of fire injury hospitalisations are disaggregated by the following selected equity groups:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• people from regional and remote areas (based on the ABS Australian Statistical Geography Standard remoteness area structure)
• people from low socio‑economic areas (based on the ABS IRSD, with quintile 1 being the most disadvantaged and quintile 5 being the least disadvantaged).

No fire or extreme weather-related injuries or a decreasing number and rate of injuries is desirable.

Nationally in 2024-25, there were an estimated 2,042 hospitalised fire injury cases, equating to a rate of 7.6 per 100,000 people (table 9A.18). Rates were higher for non-Indigenous people, people living in major cities and people living in the lowest socio‑economic areas (quintile 1) (figure 9.8a).

Nationally, for the three-year period 2021-22 to 2023-24, there were an estimated 2,495 extreme weather-related injury hospitalisations, equating to a rate of 9.5 per 100,000 people (figure 9.8b). Most extreme weather-related hospitalisations were the result of heat (78.7%), followed by bushfire (8.8%), cold (7.3%) and rain and storms (5.2%).

‘Value of asset losses from fire and other events’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to reduce the adverse effects of events on the community (including people, property, infrastructure, the economy and the environment).

‘Value of asset losses from fire and other events’ is defined by two measures:

• fire events – the estimated monetary value of the damage to domestic (household) property and contents caused by fire and firefighting operations based on insurance claims, reported separately for bushfire and non-bushfire events
• other major weather events – the estimated monetary value of the damage to domestic (household) property and contents caused by other major weather events (e.g. flood, storm) based on insurance claims.

These measures comprise the value of all insurance claims, including those for major events (defined as total claims greater than $100 million). As a result, there is potential for volatility across the time series due to the unpredictability of major events.

The value of household insurance claims from fire events and other major weather events reflects efforts to reduce the likelihood, effect and consequences of emergencies on communities. Lower or decreasing asset losses from fire and other major weather events is desirable.

Data should be interpreted with caution as insurance claims may not reflect actual asset losses due to:

• under insurance – insurance payouts are limited by the estimated value of assets a policy holder provides when taking out insurance (and not all assets lost in fire and other major weather events are insured)
• new for old policies – new for old policies replace an old asset with a new equivalent
• excess policies – small losses from fire and other weather events are not recorded where no insurance claim is made. Policy holders might not make an insurance claim for small losses given the requirement for policy holders to pay an excess.

Data reflects approximately 70% and 80% of the potential domestic and commercial insurance markets, respectively.

The average value of the 5,894 total fire event insurance claims (including bushfire event claims) for households was $143,031 in 2024-25. The total value of household asset losses from all fire events was $843.0 million in 2024-25 (table 9A.20). Supporting data on commercial fire event claims (reported separately for bushfire and non-bushfire events) is available in table 9A.20.

The average value of the 69,981 household other major weather event insurance claims was $23,041 in 2024-25. The total value of household asset losses for other major weather events was $1,612.5 million (table 9A.21). Supporting data on commercial major weather event claims is available in table 9A.21.

Some negative values are reported in average and total value of claims (tables 9A.20–21). Negative values are the result of delays finalising insurance claims for large events, insurers revising their reserves, and third-party recoveries.

The bushfire events captured across the reported time series are:

• the ‘Black Summer’ bushfires – November/December 2019
• Pinery Bushfires – November 2015.

a Market value is the current (net) value market selling price or exchange value; deprival value may be either the depreciated replacement cost of an asset of a similar service potential or the stream of its future economic benefits. b The assets used by the NSW Rural Fire Service are largely vested in local government. Accordingly, although issues such as asset depreciation and useful lives may be guided by Service policies, local government policies will prevail in other areas. c Treatment includes all four response agencies: the ACT Fire and Rescue, the ACT Rural Fire Service, the ACT State Emergency Service and the ACT Ambulance Service. Assets have been manually apportioned. Apportionment process varies from previous years. d Estimated as 1/depreciation rate. Asset lives for some assets have been grouped with other classifications. e For some jurisdictions, office equipment includes furniture and fittings. f For some jurisdictions, other equipment includes information technology. na Not available.

Source: State and territory governments (unpublished).