Auxiliary, part-time and volunteer firefighters: what counts for a home loan

What an auxiliary firefighter is

In Queensland, auxiliary firefighters are casual employees of the Queensland Fire Department. Each one is attached to a home station and is paid when they respond to an emergency or turn up for planned work such as training. The Queensland Government counts more than 2,000 auxiliary firefighters, alongside about 2,200 permanent firefighters.

Under their state award, auxiliary firefighters get a casual loading instead of paid leave, are paid an on-call allowance when they agree to be on call, and can receive a yearly retention allowance, tied to their attendance and paid by the end of February. Pay is made at least monthly.

Other states use other names. Fire and Rescue NSW calls the role an on-call firefighter and describes it as paid, part-time work. South Australia's Metropolitan Fire Service calls it a retained firefighter, paid for incidents and training plus a retainer allowance. If you are a career firefighter, our firefighter home loans page covers how lenders read your pay.

Auxiliary pay is usually a second income

Auxiliary and retained roles are set up to work alongside another job. Queensland's award refers to an auxiliary firefighter's "other employment", and South Australia's Metropolitan Fire Service says its retained firefighters often have primary employment elsewhere. To most lenders, that makes your auxiliary pay a second job, paid on a casual basis, that goes up and down with call-outs.

Lenders generally look at each job on its own. Your main job is assessed under the lender's normal rules. Your auxiliary pay is usually assessed under its policy for second jobs and casual income, and that is where lenders differ a lot:

• some count it once you have held the role for a while, others want a longer history, and history requirements vary from lender to lender,
• most want to see that it is regular, not a one-off,
• many average it over a year or two, and some use the lower of the two years, and
• some count only part of it.

That caution is expected. APRA, the banking regulator, tells banks to adjust for seasonal or variable income, and says a bank may use the lowest documented amount over several years, or a discounted average.

Why the season and the calendar matter

Auxiliary income is lumpy. A wild storm season or a bad fire season can mean far more call-outs than a quiet year, so one year can look much stronger than the next. That is why lenders tend to lean on your history rather than your busiest month.

The calendar matters too. Because the retention allowance is paid once a year, by the end of February, a year-to-date figure taken between then and 30 June includes it. That can make your auxiliary pay look higher than its usual run. A lender may want to know it is a yearly payment, so we point it out up front.

Part-time firefighters

Part-time firefighting is a different arrangement from auxiliary work. The Queensland Fire Department's certified agreement lets firefighters at First Class Firefighter rank or above work part-time, with a set minimum number of hours over each roster cycle. Hours that run over on a shift are paid as overtime.

Lenders generally treat permanent part-time pay much like full-time pay for the hours you are appointed to. Extra hours are read like overtime: most lenders want to see them paid regularly before they count them, and history requirements vary. If you have recently gone from full-time to part-time, your year-to-date figure mixes the two, so a letter confirming your current hours helps a lender use the right number.

Volunteers: unpaid, so no income to count

Volunteer firefighters give their time for free. The Rural Fire Service Queensland, the volunteer arm of the Queensland Fire Department, has about 28,000 volunteers across the state. Because volunteering is unpaid, it adds nothing to your income for a home loan. On its own, it generally does not count against you either.

Where volunteering can show up is in your main job's pay. The Fair Work Ombudsman says time off for voluntary emergency work is community service leave, and that this leave is unpaid (jury duty is the exception). Some employers keep paying your normal pay for that time under their own agreement or policy, and others do not. A long unpaid deployment can make your year-to-date pay look lower than usual, so tell us about it and we will explain the dip to the lender.

What to have ready

• recent payslips from every job, showing year-to-date figures,
• your income statements from myGov: with two employers you will have two, one from each,
• income statements or tax returns for the last two years, if your auxiliary pay is a big part of what you earn,
• a letter or contract from your main employer, and
• something from your fire service confirming your role and start date, if a lender asks for it.

How we help

Because second-job and casual income policies vary so much, we look at every job you have before we pick a lender, not after. That way your auxiliary pay is counted where it can be, and your main job is not held back by a policy that does not suit you. Read more on our home loans for firefighters page, or turn a payslip into a yearly figure with our income annualiser.

We are not part of, or endorsed by, any fire service. We just know how lenders read your pay.

Sources

• Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, Auxiliary Firefighters' Award, State 2016 (reprint as at 01-09-2026): casual employment, on-call allowance, retention allowance, pay frequency and other employment, checked 23-10-2026.
• Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, Queensland Fire Department Certified Agreement 2025: part-time employment, checked 23-10-2026.
• Queensland Government, Queensland Fire Department, checked 23-10-2026.
• Fire and Rescue NSW, On-Call Firefighting, checked 23-10-2026.
• SA Metropolitan Fire Service, Part-Time Firefighters FAQs, checked 23-10-2026.
• Fair Work Ombudsman, Community service leave, checked 23-10-2026.
• Australian Taxation Office, Access your income statement, checked 23-10-2026.
• APRA, Prudential Practice Guide APG 223 Residential Mortgage Lending, checked 23-10-2026.

This article is general information only. It is not credit advice or an offer of credit, and it does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider your circumstances and talk to us before acting.

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