WA's new fire and emergency services chief is confident he can work with the union and volunteer associations on the contentious rural fire service plan, and will implement whatever model the state government chooses.
Former firefighter Darren Klemm, who has been assistant commissioner, will replace Wayne Gregson as the head of the agency.
He will have an initial term of 18 months, rather than the usual five years, because the future structure of the department is still being considered.
Mr Klemm will cease his membership with the United Firefighters Union to take on the role and said he would be impartial when dealing with the union and volunteer associations.
Emergency Services Minister Fran Logan said the state government was still working on the recommendation from the Ferguson inquiry into the deadly Waroona/Yarloop bushfire to implement a rural fire service.
Mr Logan said the stand-alone model, favoured by volunteers over a DFES sub-department, was unaffordable.
"I'm still unaware of exactly what that structure will look like at the moment," he told reporters on Tuesday.
"What I'm hoping to do is to have an announcement on the future of a rural fire service before the next bushfire season."
But it was impossible to fully implement the service this season, he said.
Mr Klemm said he would implement whatever model the state government chose.
He has been DFES assistant commissioner of metropolitan operations since 2012.
Mr Klemm was state and incident controller during the Waroona, O'Sullivan and Toodyay bushfires, and Tropical Cyclone Olwyn.
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