by AFAC National Resource Sharing Centre

20 November, 2019

The AIA is maintained by the AFAC National Resource Sharing Centre, a division of the National Aerial Firefighting Centre. The Commissioners and Chief Officers Strategic Committee (CCOSC) of AFAC has endorsed the AIA as the basis for sharing fire and emergency service resources across Australasia. The Commonwealth, through Emergency Management Australia (EMA), co-chairs CCOSC and is integral to this arrangement.

The AIA is the primary arrangement for mutual assistance in emergency management activities being conducted by Australasian agencies. It does not replace existing bi-lateral agreements that provide for everyday response operations by agencies across borders in support of their immediate neighbours. It caters for occasions when significant resource deployments are requested for response to large scale events.

In creating the AIA, the AFAC NRSC has had regard to previous interstate assistance arrangements developed by the Forest Fire Management Group and the Australian Council of State Emergency Services, and the AFAC guide to resource sharing.