Bush Fire Bulletin
The Bush Fire Bulletin is the official journal of the NSW Rural Fire Service and has been in circulation for more than 70 years. The first issue was published on 1 September 1952.
Bush Fire Bulletin Volume 46, No. 1 (2024)
Dry lightning strikes again
This edition of the Bush Fire Bulletin features stories on fires that threatened northern NSW in late 2023, the new state-of-the-art RFS aviation facility and a ten-year retrospective on the 2013 Blue Mountains bush fires. Also in this edition is:
- an examination of the benefits of cultural burning and how it differs from hazard reduction burns
- the story of the fight to save Australia's bees from Varroa mite
- an article on how prolific vegetation growth is fuelling new fires
To receive a free copy delivered to your home or business, email a request with your address and details to: bush.fire.bulletin@rfs.nsw.gov.au
Download the Bulletin as a PDF, or view the magazine as a flipbook below.
About the Bush Fire Bulletin
This well-loved printed publication reports on the activities of RFS volunteers and staff around the state. We also publish stories about fire activity, new technology, research and advances in firefighting and prevention, community engagement, and station openings.
The Bush Fire Bulletin showcases the achievements, the heroism and everyday goodwill of the RFS, the largest volunteer bush firefighting agency in the world.
The Bush Fire Bulletin galvanises the RFS volunteer community by acknowledging the great and small achievements of our volunteers. The Bush Fire Bulletin is published quarterly and is read by RFS volunteers and staff, students in schools, staff in related agencies and members of the general public. Around 20,000 copies of the magazine are distributed to brigades, fire control centres, affiliated agencies and educational institutions in NSW and around Australia.
It is also available for download on the RFS website and the backlist of Bulletins are fully searchable via the National Library of Australia’s TROVE.
ISSN: 2206-3609 (Online)
How to subscribe or change your details
Postal mailing is free. You can email your postal details to bush.fire.bulletin@rfs.nsw.gov.au or fill out your details in this form.
Have you moved house? Are you not getting your Bush Fire Bulletin? Have you let the editorial team know? Email any changes for you or your brigade to bush.fire.bulletin@rfs.nsw.gov.au or fill out this form.
Bush Fire Bulletin liftouts
Every issue of the Bush Fire Bulletin has a handy liftout poster in the centre pages. These posters are designed to be pulled out and displayed in brigade stations, but they can prove useful in a variety of settings. A printable PDF version of each liftout is also available for use on the Bush Fire Bulletin liftouts page.
The NSW RFS, with the National Library of Australia, has digitised the entire collection of the Bush Fire Bulletin dating back to September 1952. The digitised collection also includes the Sitrep bulletin (a joint publication that incorporated both the Bush Fire Bulletin and the SES Bulletin) from 1976 to 1978.
This historical archived collection is available online in Trove.
Browse the collection
Bush Fire Bulletin (1952 – 1975)
Bush Fire Bulletin (1978 – 2022)
Search the collection
If you are looking for articles on a particular topic, e.g. the town of Merriwa, you can easily search the whole Bulletin collection of over 6,000 articles in Trove by following these instructions.
Open the Trove search box. The search box is pre-filled with the Bulletin catalogue items.
In the search box (after the Bulletin Catalogue items), type in ‘AND’ followed by your keyword(s) e.g. ‘AND Merriwa’.
Click on the search icon and the resulting articles will be listed.
eBulletin
The eBulletin is a monthly email newsletter for all members of the RFS – volunteers and staff. The eBulletin promotes Service initiatives, programs and activities as well as issues confronting the Service, in the interests of all members.
If you have content for an upcoming issue, email us at: comms@rfs.nsw.gov.au.
