THE state’s emergency services will be merged into a single department and will be led by a chief officer overseeing about 17,500 staff and volunteers in the sector’s biggest shake-up in a decade.

Emergency Services Minister Tony Piccolo will release a draft plan that proposes amalgamating the services from regional offices right through to the executive.

But the Metropolitan Fire Service, the Country Fire Service and the State Emergency Service would retain their separate identities during day-to-day operations.

The as-yet unnamed emergency service department would mean the end of SAFECOM — the SA Fire and Emergency Services Commission.

It was established about nine years ago for strategic policy planning and to help allocate resources.

Mr Piccolo said it would reduce duplication in the bureaucracy and cut the number of executives. He said the savings would be redirected to the frontline for better training, equipment and facilities.

He said that, for example, the sector had three registered training organisations.

“Through this one organisation, I’m aiming to get better allocation of resources at a community level by the organisation looking at the whole community rather than in silos,” he said.

“(But) it’s very important that on the ground the services can remain as they are ... (because) they run pretty efficiently and secondly (we) need to be respectful to the volunteer component on the ground. They identify with their particular service.”

Under the proposed model, the department would be split into five tiers — a chief officer, an executive team, functional areas (the majority of the bureaucracy), regional or zone offices, and frontline staff and volunteers, which would remain as the MFS, CFS and SES.

Currently, each agency competes for State Government funding, which it then spends on its own agency needs.

The merged department would be given a single budget and distribute funding based on the overall emergency service needs of communities.

“People look after their own patch first but there is only one patch under this model,” Mr Piccolo said.

He said there would be a nationwide search for the chief officer and that each of the current agency heads would be welcome to apply.

Over the next six weeks, the Government will seek feedback on its proposal and Mr Piccolo said he was particularly keen for suggestions about how the regional office and the bureaucracy could be set up to best support the frontline.

Mr Piccolo said one suggestion was that two zones — possibly north and south, or country and metro — that would each have their own leader, who would report to the chief officer.

The proposal is the result of a statewide consultation process in which Mr Piccolo met with about 1500 staff and volunteers.

The plan can be downloaded from the SAFECOM site. Submissions close on Friday, October 24.