Organisation: Permanent Stations. A permanent firefighter is a full-time firefighter. Permanent firefighters work in a fire station as part of a platoon. Each fire station has four platoons on rotating shifts each containing at least 3 firefighters of various ranks, plus a Station Officer. The number depends on the size and nature of the fire station. Each platoon is supervised by a Station Officer. Each fire station is part of a zone containing between nine and 27 fire stations and headed by a zone commander. These zones are then grouped in regions (metropolitan, regional north, regional south, and regional west) headed by a Regional Commander. . Retained Stations: A retained station is a part-time station where retained firefighters work. Even though these firefighters work part-time, it should be noted that these members of the community (who often have other full-time employment) are considered professional firefighters who have undergone training so they can attend the same jobs as permanent firefighters. The retained station is not a permanently staffed station, meaning the firefighters are on-call from home or work rather than on duty at the station. However, retained stations respond to emergencies 24 hours a day. Retained firefighters use the same vehicles, equipment and uniforms as their permanent counterparts, the only visible differences being their shoulder and helmet ranks which are red as opposed to white/black. . In mid-2012, the NSW Government announced that A$64 m in employee expense savings over four year will be cut from the budget of Fire & Rescue NSW; with resultant temporary closures of some smaller fire stations across metropolitan Sydney