Each year thousands of fires destroy or damage houses, sheds and garages, commercial and industrial buildings, vehicles and vast hectares of bushland throughout Western Australia (WA).
Bushfires in WA account for the highest number of fires attended to by career and volunteer firefighters.
The career Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) comprises nearly 1,100 firefighters supported by 2,250 FRS volunteer firefighters and boosted by nearly 600 Bush Fire Brigade volunteers and Volunteer Emergency Services (VES).
Career and volunteer firefighters responded to and put out 1,550 structural fires, 1,850 rubbish fires, 1,350 vehicle and caravan fires and 7,050 bushfires from January to December 2010
DFES’s Fire Investigation and Analysis Unit (FIAU) also support operational fire crews to establish the origin and cause of all fires attended by DFES. The unit also work closely with the Police Arson Squad to identify the cause of all suspicious and deliberately lit fires.