About
About the Gosford Rural Fire Service
The Gosford Rural Fire District follows the boundaries of the Gosford Local Go
vernment Area, consisting of 1,029 square kilometres. The District comprises of 20 Rural Fire Brigades and 7 Support units, with 38 fire fighting appliances, 34 support vehicles and 920 volunteers supported by 8 fulltime staff.
Rural Fire Brigades within Gosford District include: Avoca Beach, Bar Point, Brisbane Waters, Calga-Mount White, Copacabana, Empire Bay, Kariong, Killcare-Wagstaffe, Macmasters Beach, Mangrove Mountain, Matcham-Holgate, Mooney Mooney, Narara, Patonga, Pearl Beach, Somersby, Spencer, The Bays, Wamberal and Wendoree.
The NSW Rural Fire Service is more than just front line fire fighting. The District Support Units include: Aviation Support, Breathing Apparatus Support, Bulk Water, Catering, Fire Boats, Radio Communications, Logistics and Trail Bikes.
The Gosford area is predominantly mountainous terrain with heath vegetation on the coastal strip and the remaining area open woodland. Gosford Local Government Area has a large population of 154,654 (census) with a large majority living on the coastal strip with industrial estates and housing estates intermingled with bush land. The Gosford area has the Sydney / Newcastle Expressway running from the Hawkesbury River to the south through to Wyong Council area to the north. Gosford has a very busy road system connecting major centres.
The largest incidence of fire ignition in Gosford (approximately 80%) occurs on the coastal strip and adjacent to the main residential suburbs of Gosford. The remaining 20% occur in the western rural areas, National Parks and Crown Land.
The fires that occur in the more populated areas of Gosford (80%) are generally small, ranging between 100 sq metres to 50 hectares. The remaining 20% that occur in the western area are considerably larger due to the large tracts of forested land and topographical constraints.
Historically, the main fire paths experienced are of a northwest to westerly nature. Fire paths
for the coastal areas have been variable being influenced by topography and prevailing winds. For more detail on Fire History see the Gosford Fire Histrory page withing this section.
The Gosford District has significant amount of bushland available to burn. To this end, Gosford Brigades are active during appropriate cooler months in carrying out controlled hazard reduction burns in conjunction with the other Agencies.
Gosford promotes an active community education program and is looking forward to continuing community assistance by way of Firewise Programs.
Gosford District - Local people protecting local communities.
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