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CFS Ranks & How to Identify Them

Firefighter All Volunteers start as Firefighters and can be elected to more senior positions within their brigade.
Senior Firefighter Senior Firefighters are usually elected by members of their brigade. A brigade may have between 0 - 4 Senior Firefighters
Lieutenant A Lieutenant is the first level of an officer. All officers are elected by brigade members every two years. A brigade can have between 2 - 4 Lieutenants.
Captain A Captain is the most senior person in a brigade and is ultimately responsible for the operational and administrative aspects of the brigade.
Deputy Group Officer The Deputy assists the Group Officer, and commonly is responsible for a collection of brigades within a Group. A Group has 1-3 Deputy Group Officers.
Group Officer The Group Officer is the most senior rank that is held by a volunteer in the CFS. A Group officer is responsible for the operational and administrative aspects of a geographical grouping of brigades.
Paid Positions The following ranks are held by paid, full time employees of the South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission Board, the governing body of the CFS. Paid staff are mainly administrative and do not get involved with incident operations except for major incidents where a high degree of high-level co-ordination is required between South Australia's various emergency services, or a state of emergency has been declared. All paid staff (with the exception of the Chief Officer) are appointed by, and are responsible to the Chief Officer. The Chief Officer officer is appointed by, and responsible to, the South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission Board, and the Minister for Emergency Services.
Regional Officer Level 1 A level 1 Regional Officer (RO) is the first level of paid staff. They are usually based at CFS Headquarters.
Regional Officer Level 2 Level 2 RO's are generally based in regional offices assisting the Regional Commander in the administrative duties for that region.
Regional Officer Level 3 Level 3 RO's are assigned to projects operating out of CFS Headquarters in Adelaide. This can include the policy development, training or bushfire prevention units.
Regional Commander A Regional Commander heads each of the six operational Rregions, and the Bushfire Prevention Unit. They are responsible for the administration of their region, and high-level liason with other emergency services. Regional Commanders of the six Regions report to the Manager of Operations.
Assistant Chief Officer There are currently two Assistant Chief Officers known as the Manager of Operations, and the Manager of Support Services. The Manager of Operations is responsible for ensuring that the CFS is ready for, and responds to any incident that occurs in the community it protects. The Manager of Support Services is responsible for all services supporting operations including fire prevention, equipment design and training.
Chief Officer The Chief Officer is appointed by the South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission Board and is responsible to the board and the Minister for Emergency Services on all matters concerning the CFS.
To view a chart of thie Chain of Command, follow this link. CFS Chain of Command - This will open a PDF Document
Information on this page sourced from the SACFS Operational Service Uniform and Corporate Dress document 2009.