Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service
The Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service is the county-wide, statutory emergency fire and rescue service for the Shire county of Lancashire and includes the unitary authorities of Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen. Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service is made up of 6 Area Commands as follows: Northern, Eastern, Western and Pennine. Within these areas there are 18 wholetime, 17 retained and 4 day crewed stations providing Lancashire with 24hr fire cover. Water Rescue Ladder: P1/P2 Light 4x4 Vehicle: M1 Aerial Ladder Platform: A2 Multi Purpose Vehicle: M1 Multi Purpose Vehicle + Inshore Rescue Boat: T2 Flatbed Vehicle + Softrack Vehicle: T1 Command Support Unit: C1 Prime Mover + Environmental Protection Unit: T9 Prime Mover + Breathing Apparatus Support Unit: T2 Prime Mover + Bulk Foam Unit: T1/T2 Prime Mover + Major Incident Support Unit: T1 Prime Mover + High Volume Pumping: T8 Prime Mover + High Volume Hose Layer: Water Tower CBRN Response: Incident Response Unit: H9 Urban Search and Rescue: Line Rescue Unit: R1/R2 Search & Rescue Dog Unit: R9 Prime Movers: T6/T7/T8USAR Pods: Module 1 - Technical Search Equipment Module 2 - Heavy Transport, Confined Space & Hot Cutting Module 3 - Breaching & Breaking Equipment Module 4 - Multi Purpose Vehicle Module 5 - Shoring Operations Fire service in the United Kingdom Lancashire Constabulary GRIP List of British firefighters killed in the line of duty Official Website
Fire services in the United Kingdom
The fire services in the United Kingdom operate under separate legislative and administrative arrangements in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland. Emergency cover is provided by over fifty agencies; these are known as a fire and rescue service, the term used in modern legislation and by government departments. The older terms of fire brigade and fire service survive in informal usage and in the names of a few organisations. England and Wales have local fire services which are each overseen by a fire authority, made up of representatives of local governments. Fire authorities have the power to raise a Council Tax levy for funding, with the remainder coming from the government. Scotland and Northern Ireland have centralised fire services, so their authorities are committees of the devolved parliaments; the total budget for fire services in 2014-15 was £2.9 billion. Central government maintains national standards and a body of independent advisers through the Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser, created in 2007, while Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services provides direct oversight.
The devolved government in Scotland has HMFSI Scotland. Firefighters in the United Kingdom are allowed to join unions, the main one being the Fire Brigades Union, while chief fire officers are members of the National Fire Chiefs Council, which has some role in national co-ordination; the fire services have undergone significant changes since the beginning of the 21st century, a process, propelled by a devolution of central government powers, new legislation and a change to operational procedures in the light of terrorism attacks and threats. See separate article History of fire safety legislation in the United Kingdom Comprehensive list of recent UK fire and rescue service legislation: Fire services are established and granted their powers under new legislation which has replaced a number of Acts of Parliament dating back more than 60 years, but is still undergoing change. 1938: Fire Brigades Act 1938. This Act provided for centralised co-ordination of fire brigades in Great Britain and made it mandatory for local authorities to arrange an effective fire service.
1947: Fire Services Act 1947 This Act transferred the functions of the National Fire Service to local authorities. Now repealed in England and Wales by Schedule 2 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004. 1959: Fire Services Act 1959 This Act amended the 1947 Act. It was repealed in Wales along with the 1947 Act. 1999: Greater London Authority Act 1999 This act was necessary to allow for the formation of the Greater London Authority and in turn the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. In 2002, there was a series of national fire strikes, with much of the discontent caused by the aforementioned report into the fire service conducted by Prof Sir George Bain. In December 2002, the Independent Review of the Fire Service was published with the industrial action still ongoing. Bain's report led to a change in the laws relating to firefighting. 2002: Independent Review of the Fire Service published 2004: Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 only applying to England and Wales. 2006: The Regulatory Reform Order 2005 This piece of secondary legislation or statutory instrument replaces several other acts that dealt with fire precautions and fire safety in premises, including the now defunct process of issuing fire certificates.
It came into force on 1 October 2006. The DfCLG has published a set of guides for non-domestic premises: 2006: The Government of Wales Act 2006 gave the National Assembly for Wales powers to pass laws on "Fire and rescue services. Promotion of fire safety otherwise than by prohibition or regulation." But does not prevent future legislation being passed by the UK government which applies to two or more constituent countries. There are further plans to modernise the fire service according to the Local Government Association, its website outlines future changes, specific projects: "The aim of the Fire Modernisation Programme is to adopt modern work practices within the Fire & Rescue Service to become more efficient and effective, while strengthening the contingency and resilience of the Service to react to incidents. " The fire service in England and Wales is scrutinised by a House of Commons select committee. In June 2006, the fire and rescue service select committee, under the auspices of the Communities and Local Government Committee, published its latest report.
Committee report The committee's brief is described on its website: The Communities and Local Government Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure and policy of the Department for Communities and Local Government and its associated bodies. Government response This document, the subsequent government response in September 2006, are important as they outlined progress on the FiReControl, efforts to address diversity and the planned closure of HMFSI in 2007 among many issues. Both documents are interesting as they refer back to Professor Bain's report and the many recommendations it made and continue to put forward the notion that there is an ongoing need to modernise FRSs. For example, where FRSs were inspected by HMFSI, much of this work is now carried out by the National Audit Office. Fire Control On 8 February 2010 the House of Commons Communities and Local Governm
Avon Fire and Rescue Service
Avon Fire & Rescue Service is the fire and rescue service covering the unitary authorities of Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire in South West England. The headquarters of the service is co-located with Avon and Somerset Police in Portishead, the service has 22 fire stations across its area. Avon Fire Brigade was created in 1974. In 1996, the county was abolished and four separate unitary authorities were created. Administration of the service was taken over by a joint fire authority made up of councillors from the four unitary authorities. In 2004, the Fire and Rescue Services Act was passed. To better reflect the changing roles and responsibilities of the fire service, Avon Fire Brigade changed its name to Avon Fire & Rescue Service. Fleur Lombard QGM was the first female firefighter to die on duty in peacetime Britain, while Avon Fire and Rescue Service were fighting a supermarket fire in Staple Hill; the Fleur Lombard Bursary Fund provides travel grants so that a junior UK firefighter may visit the fire service of another country.
In September 2017 the service's headquarters was moved from Temple Back, Bristol to the Avon and Somerset Constabulary's headquarters in Portishead. Following the move an unexpected number of support staff left the service, resulting in recruitment delays in finding replacement staff. On 28 July 2017, the Chief Fire Officer, Kevin Pearson was suspended following the publication of a report from the Home Office on an investigation into how the service is run, citing that it was being run as an "old boys' club", that Pearson had been "unchallenged and not held properly to account for too long". Deputy Chief Fire Officer Lorraine Houghton was suspended; the service is governed by the Avon Fire Authority, which has a total of 25 councillors from the four councils within the region. Following the suspension of Pearson, the board met on 2 August 2017 to discuss what changes needed to be made and how the authority should be governed in the future, but no conclusion was reached; the authority released a statement afterwards announcing that it could not "fix itself" and that the Police and Crime Commissioner, Sue Mountstevens is to be appointed to the board in September.
Mountstevens has said following the release of the report that she was considering a takeover of the area's fire service. On 11 August 2017, it was announced that Mick Crennell had been appointed as the interim Chief Fire Officer on a six month contract, whilst the investigation of Pearson is taking place. Crennell served as Deputy Chief Fire Officer of Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service. In April 2018 Crennell was appointed Chief Fire Officer; the role of a modern fire and rescue service has increased from fighting fires to cover the core functions of'Protecting and Responding'. Avon Fire & Rescue Service now has a wider remit promoting community safety through events and education work, alongside attending a range of incidents and emergencies from road traffic collisions and fires, to flooding and chemical spills; the fire service aims to cut the risk of fire developing in the first place by promoting safety messages to local residents and encouraging people to have working smoke alarms.
Avon Fire & Rescue Service runs community safety campaigns. The summer 2009 campaign,'Be BBQ Safe', included a hard hitting interview with a BBQ fire burns victim who spent the previous summer in intensive care after using nitro to light his BBQ; the Car Clear scheme was launched in 2001, with the intention of promptly removing abandoned vehicles from streets. This eliminates the possibility of arson attacks. In meeting their Mission and Values Avon Fire & Rescue Service utilizes a large cadre of emergency equipment; these include 81 appliances, 51 pumping appliances, four turntable ladders and 16 special appliances. Adding to the available emergency response can be their boats, fork lift trucks, a Control Emergency Evacuation Vehicle and a telescopic handler. In 2009 & 2011 Avon Fire & Rescue added two - Polybilt bodied Combined Aerial Rescue Platforms; the first began service at Patchway fire station and was subsequently moved to Speedwell fire station. The second was assigned to Bedminster fire station.
However both of these appliances have been withdrawn from service by July 2016 and the bodywork has been removed from the chassis to allow for the chassis to be used for new specialist appliances. In 2009 to better serve the public Yate Fire Station was upgraded to "whole-time/retained status". Firefighters would now be ready to respond from the fire station 24/7; this was a preparedness upgrade from the "day-crewed" status of 0800 – 1700 hours daily and firefighters responding from their homes and work places. As part of the "Investing for the Future" programme, which began in 2014, Kingswood Fire Station was closed for refurbishment; the Kingswood Fire Station project was completed and subsequently Speedwell Fire Station closed permanently all in 2015. The Chair of Avon Fire Authority assured the public. Along with Speedwell Fire Station Keynsham Fire Station was closed 1 November 2015. According to the Chairman of Avon Fire Authority, Councillor Peter Abraham "The regeneration of Keynsham town centre meant we needed to move the existing Keynsham Fire Station.
This has provided us with an opportunity to amalgamate the part-time station at Keynsham and Brislington fire station, which will both close, into a new Wholetime fire station at Hicks Gate." In 2009 it emerged that the service had banned white males from four out of five of its recruitment workshops, with two only open to ethnic minorities and two for females only. The practice was criticised as illegal and divisi
Cleveland Fire Brigade
Cleveland Fire Brigade is the statutory fire and rescue service covering the boroughs of Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Cleveland & Stockton-on-Tees in the North East of England. The name originates from the former county of Cleveland, abolished in 1996. For ceremonial purposes the Brigade's area is split between North Yorkshire. Cleveland is organised operationally into four Districts: Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees. Cleveland Fire Brigade operates fourteen fire stations, eight of which are crewed day and night and six are crewed by retained firefighters who live near to their fire station and can arrive there within five minutes of a call being received. Breakdown of the different areas and locations of each fire station: here Enhanced Capability Rescue Pump: B1/H1 Enhanced Capability Decontamination Pump: D1/I1 Water Ladder: A1/C1/E1/G1/L1/N1 Water Tender: A3/B3/C3/D3/E3/I3/J3/K3/O3 Combined Aerial Rescue Pump: B4/M1 Small Fires Unit: B2/H2 Heavy 4x4 Pump: C4 Light 4x4 Pump: L4/M4 Water Rescue Unit + Inshore Rescue Boat: E0 Incident Command & Control Unit: I5 Aerial Ladder Platform: A6 Prime Mover: E56Pods: Bulk Foam Unit Incident Support Unit Welfare Unit Most Cleveland Fire Appliances have a distinctive white front CBRN Response: Detection, Identification & Monitoring: G10 Incident Response Unit: G56 Prime Mover + Mass Decontamination Disrobe: G57 Prime Mover + Mass Decontamination Rerobe: G58 Cleveland Fire Brigade works in partnership with the North East Ambulance Service to provide emergency medical cover to areas of East Cleveland.
These are areas. The aim of a co-responder team is to preserve life until the arrival of either a Rapid Response Vehicle or an ambulance; the appliances are equipped with automatic external defibrillation equipment. Four Cleveland fire stations operate as co-responders: Guisborough Saltburn Skelton Loftus Fire service in the United Kingdom Fire apparatus Fire Fire Engine FiReControl List of British firefighters killed in the line of duty Homepage
Essex County Fire and Rescue Service
Essex County Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service for the county of Essex in the east of England, is one of the largest fire services in the country, covering an area of 1,338 square miles and a population of over 1.7 million people. In 2015, the service attended around 14,000 emergency incidents within the year fires and road traffic collisions. Additionally, lift releases, effecting entry into buildings, flooding incidents and animal rescues are incidents dealt with by ECFRS. However, around 40 percent of these incidents are false require no further action. Between 2004 and 2014 the number of incidents attended by ECFRS decreased by around 50 percent, with around 38 calls per day, compared to around 77 calls per day in 2004. ECFRS employs 1,448 staff: 620 full-time firefighters, 519 retained firefighters, 33 control personnel and 240 support staff. There are 50 fire stations in Essex, 12 of which are wholetime and located in the more densely populated areas. ECFRS have 74 frontline fire appliances, with between 55 and 70 available for mobilisation at any moment.
Major risks covered include Stansted and Southend airport, Harwich seaport, Lakeside shopping centre, Coryton oil refinery, power stations and docks at Tilbury and part of the M25 and M11 motorways, A127 and A12 road. As well as attending fires, traffic collisions and other rescue operations, ECFRS provides emergency response to hazardous materials incidents and has an Urban Search and Rescue team of officers with specialist training and equipment to conduct rescues from collapsed buildings and enclosed spaces; the Urban Search and Rescue team have their own fire station separate from others across the county, ECFRS being the first to do this in the country. One of their resources include a search dog trained to locate people trapped in rubble. Another primary role of the service is preventative community safety work. ECFRS's headquarters is located in Kelvedon; the Service is divided into four Groups: North East Group North West Group South East Group South West GroupThe Chief Fire Officer/Chief Executive is Jo Turton.
On the 1st October 2017, governance of ECFRS was transferred from the Essex Fire Authority to the Police and Crime Commissioner, Roger Hirst. It was made clear, that both Essex Police and ECFRS would retain their Chief Officers, however the new PFCC would have overlying governance over the two, the Chief Officers would answer to the PFCC. Essex were the first to do this in the country; the Emergency Operational Fire Control is situated in the headquarters at Kelvedon. 33 control staff handle over 14,000 999 emergency calls. The control staff carry out incident co-ordination, appliance mobilisation and movements to ensure strategic fire cover. Radio communications are made between incidents and Fire Control, control staff liaise with other emergency services to provide additional resources when requested by firefighting personnel. Emergency calls are handled on an average of 54 seconds from the time of answering the call, to the time of dispatching the fire crew. There are five firefighter training centres, located in Basildon, Orsett and Wethersfield.
Each of these centres specialise in different forms of training firefighters must become accustomed to, in order to be operationally prepared. The Service workshop is in Lexden, where the operational fleet of frontline fire appliances and specialist appliances are maintained, the reserve fleet of spare appliances are stored. In 2016, the Service started a co-responding scheme with the East of England Ambulance Service, whereby fire crews would respond to life-threatening cardiac emergencies, alongside ambulances, in a way to ease pressure off the ambulance service, grant better survival for patients. Fire Stations that partook in the scheme were: Basildon, Ongar, Newport and Colchester; however in 2017, the co-responding scheme ceased due to disputes between the Service. Regardless, the Service still have close relations with the ambulance service, on a daily basis, fire crews work with partners like paramedics and police officers efficiently. ECFRS has the following fire appliances in operation: 43 Rescue Pumps: the standard firefighting vehicle mobilised to all emergency calls.
These appliances are equipped with a high-pressure two-stage main pump capable of making foam via an onboard foam inductor system, two high-pressure hose reels, 13.5 metre ladder, a light portable pump, six breathing apparatus sets, two spare breathing air cylinders and hydraulic rescue equipment, thermal imaging cameras and other tools. These appliances ride with a Watch Manager in charge, along with another 3 - 5 firefighters on board. 20 Water Tenders: similar to the Rescue Pump except with less emphasis on rescue equipment and a greater water capacity. These appliances will have a smaller 10.5 metre ladder but similar equipment to the Rescue Pump. The Water Tender is mobilised to support the Rescue Pump or respond to incidents that require only one pump; these appliances ride with a Crew Manager in charge, along with another 3 - 5 firefighters on board. 8 Heavy Rescue Pumps: similar to the standard Rescue Pump but specialised more towards heavy rescue operations and incidents. These appliances ride with a Watch Manager in charge, along with another 3 - 5 Firefighters on board.
4 Aerial Ladder Platforms: 32 meter extendable ladder platform with a rescue cage and additional lighting, these vehicles provide high-level access and firefighting capability, with a verti
Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service
Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service for the county of Derbyshire, England. The Fire Services Act 1947 created two brigades for Derbyshire - the County Borough of Derby Fire Brigade and the Derbyshire Fire Service. In 1974, local government reorganisation led to the creation of a single organisation for the county - Derbyshire Fire Service; the word'rescue' was added to the title in the early 1990s to reflect the changing responsibilities of the service. There are 31 fire stations in operation with the service, consisting of: Buxton, Wholetime/Retained Chesterfield, Wholetime/Retained Staveley, Wholetime/Retained Alfreton, Wholetime/Retained Ilkeston, Wholetime/Retained Kingsway, Wholetime Nottingham Road, Wholetime Ascot Drive, Wholetime Long Eaton, Wholetime/Retained Glossop, Day Crewed Matlock, Day Crewed/Retained Swadlincote, Day Crew +/Retained New Mills, Retained Whaley Bridge, Retained Chapel En Le Frith, Retained Bradwell, Retained Hathersage, Retained Dronfield, Retained Clowne, Retained Bakewell, Retained Bolsover, Retained Shirebrook, Retained Clay Cross, Retained Ashbourne, Retained Wirksworth, Retained Crich, Retained Ripley, Retained Belper, Retained Heanor, Retained Duffield, Retained Melbourne, Retained There are a total of 58 front-line fire engines used by the Service, located at all of the stations.
The specialist appliance fleet consists of: 3 Aerial Ladder Platforms 3 Water Rescue Units 2 Major Rescue Units 1 Emergency Tender 2 Water/Foam Carriers 1 Water Carrier 2 Forward Control Units 1 Unimog multi-terrain vehicle 1 Command Unit 2 Incident Response Units 1 High-Volume Pump 1 Environmental Unit 1 Fire Investigation Dog Unit 1 Rope Rescue Unit Fire service in the United Kingdom FiReControl Fire apparatus Firefighter Fire engine Fire List of British firefighters killed in the line of duty Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service. "The History of Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service", Internal Publication
Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service
Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service for the county of Norfolk in the east of England. The county consists of 2,074 square miles; the Headquarters of Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service is in the village of Hethersett, 6 miles south-west of Norwich. The full address is Whitegates, Hethersett, NR9 3DN. Whitegates was commandeered for use by the National Fire Service during the Second World War and was purchased by Norfolk County Council in 1950; the building was built as a family home in the late eighteenth century and has had various owners over the years. New building at the rear of the original house in recent times has replaced the coach house and stables of earlier times. In 2014-15 the NFRS attended 7,285 incidents where 749 people were 63 fatalities. Consisting of 2143 fires, 2809 special services and 2333 false alarms which required no further action; the service have noticed a reduction in the number of fire's they attend, however an increasing response to Road Traffic Collisions on Norfolk's roads.
30 Rescue Pumps: the standard firefighting vehicle mobilised to all emergency calls. These appliances are equipped with a high-pressure two-stage main pump capable of making foam via an onboard foam inductor system, two high-pressure hose reels, a set of rescue ladders, a light portable fire pump, four breathing apparatus sets, two spare breathing air cylinders and hydraulic rescue equipment, as well as other miscellaneous tools. 4 Heavy Rescue Pumps: similar to the rescue pump, however more emphasis on rescue operations and incidents. 24 Water Tenders: similar to the rescue pump, however less emphasis on rescue equipment but more water capacity. 3 Aerial Ladder Platforms: extendible ladder platforms with rescue cages and additional lighting, these vehicles provide high-level access and firefighting capability, with a vertical reach of 100 ft 80 ft sideways, up to 55 ft below ground level. Rescue Pump: P1 / P2 Water Ladder: P3 / P4 Heavy Rescue Pump: P7 Rural Response Pump: P8 Foam / Water Carrier: W9 Aerial Ladder Platform: A6 Command & Control Unit: C0 Environmental Protection Unit: H0 Fire & Emergency Support Service: FESS Operational & Welfare Support Unit: S1 Technical Rescue Unit: S0 Inshore Rescue Boat Prime Mover: T9Pods: High Volume Pump High Volume Hose Layer CBRN Response: Incident Response Unit: H9 Urban Search & Rescue Unit: Norfolk hosts one of the UK's Urban Search and Rescue teams, these were set up as a response to the 9/11 tragedy in New York.
The Norfolk team comprises 15 wholetime USAR technicians and 16 retained technicians along with a search dog. The team is based in Dereham in central Norfolk alongside the town's retained crew. Search & Rescue Dog Unit: R9 Technical Rescue Unit: S0 Inshore Rescue Boat Operational Support Unit: S1 Prime Mover: T6 / T7 / T8Pods: Module 1 - Technical Search Equipment Module 2 - Heavy Transport, Confined Space & Hot Cutting Equipment Module 3 - Breaching & Breaking Equipment Module 4 - Multi Purpose Vehicle Module 5 - Shoring Operations 1966 Neatishead - three firefighters lost their lives tackling a fire in a bunker at RAF Neatishead; the cause was arson. 1991 Thetford - Plastic recycling centre. A large fire which burned for four days 1994 Norwich - Norwich library destroyed by fire; the main fire station of Norwich was opposite the library but due to the dramatic spread of the fire the building could not be saved 1995 Wroxham - a ten-hour blaze in a department store 1995 Norwich - a fire in the historic Assembly Rooms 1998 Attleborough - Poultry processing plant fire 1999 Ditchingham - Maltings fire 2011 Great Yarmouth - four men killed in industrial accident.
The signal box was not alerted to the accident for 24 minutes 2013 Swaffham - Fish and Chip shop destroyed in blaze with 10 appliances in attendance. 2014 Fakenham - 90 firefighters attended a fire in a department store 2014 Cley-next-the-Sea - a US Air Force Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk crashed, killing four crew 2014 Gillingham - four men killed in helicopter crash in thick fog. 2016 Great Yarmouth - 20 plus appliances and 88 fire crews attend large fire on Regent road inside Regent Arcade and Super Bowl UK Regent. Building destroyed. Facilities UK Firefighter dispute 2002/2003 Historical Fire Brigades of the United Kingdom History of fire safety legislation in the United Kingdom List of British firefighters killed in the line of duty The Fire Service College Fire Service Chief Fire Officers' Association UK Fire News
