South Australian Country Fire Service Promotions Unit

Raising awareness of the roles, training and activities of CFS Volunteers state-wide

Rank markings

CFS Ranks & How to Identify Them

Firefighters Helmets

Volunteer Rank
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 may have 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.
Staff Rank
The following ranks are held by employees of the South Australian Country Fire Service. The Chief Officer assigns these ranks for specific operational roles, functions, responsibilites and delgations pursuant to the South Australian Fire and Emergency Service Act 2005..
Staff Member	This is for employees of the SACFS which may include fulltime, part-time, contracted and casual employees.
Staff Officer	Staff Officers are generally based in regional offices assisting the Regional Commander in the administrative duties for that region.
Deputy Commander	A Deputy Commander supports the Commander.
Commander	A Commander maintains an operational lead of specific operational capability or business unit, such as a Region, and is commonly based in a regional office and may still be referred to a a Regional Officer.
Assistant Chief Officer	An Assistant Chief Officer is responsible for all services supporting operations including fire prevention, equipment design and training.
Deputy Chief Officer	The Deputy Chief Officer is responsible for ensuring that the CFS is ready for, and responds to any incident that occurs in the community it protects.
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.

Information on this page sourced from the SACFS COSO 19 - 2017. Photos taken by CFS Promotions Unit