FRNSW is responsible for firefighting, rescue and HAZMAT services in the major cities, metropolitan areas and towns all across the state of New South Wales.

[4] The organisation is led by the Commissioner of Fire and Rescue NSW, Jeremy Fewtrell, appointed on the 30th of October, 2023.

[5] Early firefighting efforts in New South Wales were made up of a number of small insurance and volunteer based fire brigades located predominantly around central Sydney.

[4] The MFB initially operated out of the former Insurance Brigade Headquarters on Bathurst Street, but soon began to seek new locations for expansion.

New protective clothing featured a Nomex and Kevlar blend called Titan, combined with an inner moisture barrier to prevent steam burns in 2013.

[14] In 2016, FRNSW relocated their Headquarters to a brand new building at Greenacre, which serves as a modern workspace for both operational and administrative staff.

[15] This was followed in 2018 by the construction of the new Emergency Services Academy in Orchard Hills, which provides firefighters with a modern practical learning environment to maintain and improve safety and skills.

[16] In 2018, FRNSW rolled out the ‘Plus Plan’, an organisational strategy to develop an internal model for success and community education with an emphasis on these new roles and technologies.

Permanent stations are typically located in metropolitan areas (Such as Sydney and Newcastle) and regional centres (Such as Lismore and Dubbo).

[34] Retained firefighters are part-time on call crews, who are notified by pager and travel to the fire station from home or work when an emergency occurs.

A number of stations, particularly in regional areas, have a mix of both permanent and retained crews, who work together and often provide backup for one another.

[43] FRNSW operate a number of other specialist support sections that include Finance, Governance and Legal, Information and Technology, People and Culture.

[1][36][44] Community fire units (CFUs) are volunteer teams of local residents trained to safeguard their homes during a bushfire.

[46] FRNSW also responded to close to 9,000 bushfires in 2017/18, including a number of major wild fires that destroyed thousands hectares of bushland along with hundreds of houses.

FRNSW operate a dedicated Bushfire and Aviation Section, based at Sydney Olympic Park, which is co-located with the NSW Rural Fire Service Headquarters.

In April 2018, over 70 FRNSW stations along with the RFS and NPWS attended a 17th Alarm Bush Fire which threatened hundreds of houses in Wattle Grove, Holsworthy, Menai and Alfords Point.

[51][52] Fire and Rescue NSW are the sole responsible agency for Hazardous Materials incidents in inland New South Wales.

[2] Each station is equipped to deal with HazMat incidents to an extent, such as absorbing fuels, basic hydrocarbon booming, atmospheric monitoring and decontamination.

Additional capability is provided by the HazMat Advisory Response Team (HART), who can deploy on a statewide basis with a range of highly specialised equipment such as Raman and Infrared spectrometers.

Fire and Rescue NSW are on hand 24/7 every day of the year available to assist the residents in New South Wales in their times of need.

[56] In eleven remote and rural locations across the state, Fire and Rescue NSW are involved in the Community First Responder (CFR) program.

[57] Stations across the state are regularly called upon to assist NSW Ambulance in a general capacity, often providing manpower and specialist equipment when needed.

These are just some of the diverse range of public calls for assistance that Fire and Rescue NSW attend every year.

The advertising campaign was accompanied by a harrowing video[60] telling the story of Linda, who not only suffered a brain injury in a domestic fire, causing her to have to learn to walk and talk again, but she lost her sister to the blaze.