Scottish Fire and Rescue Service - geograph

The fire services in the United Kingdom operate under separate legislative and administrative arrangements in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Th ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. As of 2023, emergency cover is provided by 49 ''fire and rescue services'' (FRS) in the UK. 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 In England and Wales a fire authority or fire and rescue authority is a statutory body made up of a committee of local councillors which oversees the policy and service delivery of a fire and rescue service. Prior to the Fire Services Act 2004 ma ...

, which is 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, and so their authorities are effectively 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 The title and job role of His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services in England, Scotland and Wales is combined with that known as Fire and Rescue Adviser (or Government Fire and Rescue Adviser) appointed by the devolved and nation ...

, which was created in 2007, while

His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), formerly Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), has statutory responsibility for the inspection of the police forces of England and Wales, and since ...

provides direct oversight. The devolved government in Scotland has a similar agency,

HMFSI Scotland His Majesty's Fire Service Inspectorate (HMFSI) in Scotland operates as a body within, but independent of, the Scottish Government. The inspectorate exists to provide independent, risk based, and proportionate professional inspection of the Scott ...

. Firefighters in the United Kingdom are allowed to join unions, the main one being the

Fire Brigades Union The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is a trade union in the United Kingdom for wholetime firefighters (including officers up to chief fire officer / firemaster), retained firefighters and emergency control room staff. History Early 20th century ...

, while chief fire officers (the heads of the various FRS) are members of the

National Fire Chiefs Council The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) is a membership body which represents area managers and above. The Council itself which meets quarterly is made up of the chief fire officers of the fire services in the United Kingdom. It replaced the Fire ...

(formerly the

Chief Fire Officers Association The Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) is the professional body representing senior fire officers in the United Kingdom. The organisation used to be known as the Chief and Assistant Chief Fire Officers Association, it was formed in 1974 foll ...

), which has some role in national co-ordination. The fire services have undergone significant changes since the beginning of the 21st century, a process that has been propelled by a devolution of central government powers, new legislation and a change to operational procedures in the light of terrorism attacks and threats.

History

Legislative framework

* ''See separate article

History of fire safety legislation in the United Kingdom The history of fire safety legislation in the United Kingdom formally covers the period from the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801 but is founded in the history of such legislation in England and Wales, and Scotl ...

'' * ''Comprehensive list of recent UK fire and rescue service legislation:'

Legislation (United Kingdom, Great Britain or England and Wales)

Fire services are established and granted their powers under fairly new legislation which has replaced a number of acts of Parliament dating back more than 60 years, but is still undergoing change; a rough timeline can be seen below. * 1938: Fire Brigades Act 1938 ( 1 & 2 Geo. 6. c. 72). This act (which is no longer in force) 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 The Fire Services Act 1947 ( 10 & 11 Geo. 6. c. 41) was an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that reorganised fire services in the United Kingdom. It disbanded the National Fire Service and returned the responsibility for running fire ser ...

( 10 & 11 Geo. 6. c. 41) This act transferred the functions of the National Fire Service to local authorities. Now repealed entirely in England and Wales by schedule 2 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004. * 1959: Fire Services Act 1959 ( 7 & 8 Eliz. 2. c. 44) This act amended the 1947 act; it dealt with pensions, staffing arrangements and provision of services by other authorities. It was repealed in England and Wales along with the 1947 act. * 1999:

Greater London Authority Act 1999 The Greater London Authority Act 1999 (c. 29) is the Act of Parliament that established the Greater London Authority, the London Assembly and the Mayor of London. Background Before the creation of the Greater London Authority, there was no si ...

This act was necessary to allow for the formation of the

Greater London Authority The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the Metonymy, metonym City Hall, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved Regions of England, regional governance body of Greater London, England. It consists of two political ...

and in turn the

London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) was a functional body of the Greater London Authority (GLA) from 2000 to 2018. It was established with the Greater London Authority by the Greater London Authority Act 1999. It replaced the ...

. 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 Sir George Bain. In December 2002, the

Independent Review of the Fire Service The Independent Review of the Fire Service, sometimes referred to as the Bain Report or IRFS was a wide-ranging report carried out by Professor Sir George Bain, in 2002, at the request of the government, into the how Fire and Rescue Services were ...

was published with the industrial action still ongoing; it made radical proposals to how the fire service should be organised and managed. Bain's report ultimately led to a change in the laws relating to firefighting. * 2002: Independent Review of the Fire Service publishedFRS Online (accessed 02 Sep 07) links to full report PDF: Independent Review of the Fire Service pub Dec 2002
* 2004:

Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 (c. 21), sometimes abbreviated as FRSA 2004, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It came into effect on 1 October 2004. It only applies to Great Britain and most provisions apply only in Eng ...

, generally only applying to England and Wales. * 2006: The

Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (SI 2005/1541) is a statutory instrument applicable in England and Wales. The Order places the responsibility on individuals within an organisation to carry out risk assessments to identify, manage ...

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 premise

* 2006: The

Government of Wales Act 2006 The Government of Wales Act 2006 (c. 32) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the then-National Assembly for Wales (now the Senedd) and allows further powers to be granted to it more easily. The Act creates a system ...

gave the

National Assembly for Wales The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...

powers to pass laws on "Fire and rescue services. ndPromotion 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. * 2022: Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 were introduced, which implement most of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry recommendations. The law came in force from 23 January 2023, and form part of a package of fire safety measures that the UK government delivered following the

Grenfell Tower fire On 14 June 2017, a List of fires in high-rise buildings, high-rise fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of Public housing in the United Kingdom, flats in North Kensington, West London, England, at 00:54 British Summer Time, BST ...

to protect the public from potential fire hazards. There are further plans to modernise the fire service according to the

Local Government Association The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national membership body for local government in England, local authorities in England and Wales. Its core membership is made up of 317 English councils and the 22 Welsh councils through the ...

. Its website outlines future changes, and specific projects:

Select committee

The fire service in England and Wales is scrutinised by a select committee of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

. In June 2006, the fire and rescue service select committee, under the auspices of the Communities and Local Government Committee, published its latest report. The committee's brief is: The committee's report, and 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 historically inspected by HMFSI, much of this work is now carried out by the National Audit Office. On 8 February 2010, the House of Commons

Communities and Local Government Select Committee The Housing and Communities Committee (formerly the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee) is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the work, the exp ...

heard evidence on the Fire Control project. Called to give evidence were Councillors

Brian Coleman Brian Coleman FRSA (born 25 June 1961) is a former Independent Conservative politician and a former councillor in the London Borough of Barnet. He was a Conservative Party member of the London Assembly for Barnet and Camden between 2000 an ...

and James Pearson from the

. Also giving evidence

Matt Wrack Matthew D. Wrack (born 23 May 1962) is a British trade unionist and former firefighter. He served as General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) from May 2005 to January 2025. He is presently Acting General Secretary of the NASUWT teachi ...

from the

and John Bonney

. The second session heard evidence from

Shahid Malik Shahid Rafique Malik (; born 24 November 1967) is a British technology and media industry chairman and former politician. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Dewsbury from 2005 to 2010. The son of the mayor of B ...

MP Fire Minister, Sir

Ken Knight Sir Kenneth John Knight, (born 3 January 1947) is a retired British firefighter and public servant. From 2003 to 2007, he was the Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade and Commissioner for the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. Fro ...

, Shona Dunn Director for Fire and Resilience Department for Communities and Local Government,

Robin Southwell Robin Southwell, , is a British businessman. He is the UK head of the aerospace company EADS (now Airbus). He was born on , the son of Peter and Susan Southwell, and lives in Cobham, Surrey. He was educated at Finchley Manor Hill Comprehensive ...

CEO and Roger Diggle Project Director

EADS Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate defence and space and helicopter divisions. Airbus has long been th ...

. The committee was chaired by

Phyllis Starkey Phyllis Margaret Starkey (née Williams; born 4 January 1947) is a British Labour party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Milton Keynes South West from 1997 to 2010. She had previously served as Leader of Oxford City Counc ...

MP and attracted significant media attention.

Legislation and administration (England)

Because of the Government of Wales Act 2006, future legislation might be passed that can only affect England.

Legislation and administration (Northern Ireland)

Fire and rescue services in Northern Ireland are provided by a single entity, the

Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) is the statutory fire and rescue service for Northern Ireland. The NIFRS is overseen by the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service Board, which in turn is subordinate to the Department of H ...

, a

Statutory Corporation A statutory corporation is a corporation, government entity created as a statutory body by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, but they are corporations owned by a government or controlled by national or sub-national government ...

funded by the

Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety The Department of Health (DoH, , , Ulster-Scots: ''Männystrie o Poustie'') is a devolved Northern Irish government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The minister with overall responsibility for the department is the Minister of H ...

. * 1950: When the

National Fire Service The National Fire Service (NFS) was the single fire service created in Great Britain in 1941 during the Second World War; a separate National Fire Service (Northern Ireland) was created in 1942. History The NFS was created in August 1941 by t ...

Northern Ireland was disbanded, three fire authorities took control of firefighting but were unified as the Northern Ireland Fire Authority in 1950. The Fire Services (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 1950 became primary legislation in the same year. * 2006: Fire and Rescue Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 S.I. No. 1254 (N.I.9)

Legislation and administration (Scotland)

Fire services in Scotland are the responsibility of the

Cabinet Secretary for Justice Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Fili ...

in the

Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

. Previously the responsibility lay with the

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland (; ), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Scotland Office. The incum ...

(the relevant "Secretary of State" referred to in legislation applicable to Scotland). * 1824: Establishment of municipal fire service in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, the first public fire brigade in the UK * 1885: Creation of

Scottish Office The Scottish Office was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1999, exercising a wide range of government functions in relation to Scotland under the control of the Secretary of State for Scotland. Following the es ...

transferring administrative (but not legislative) responsibility to

. * 1938: Fire Services Act 1938 combined the functions of 185 fire brigades and imposed fire-fighting duties upon local authorities, * 1941: Fire brigades transferred to

(NFS) to form No.11 Region]. * 1947:

returned fire brigades in Scotland to local authority control, mostly via joint boards. 11 brigades were created resembling somewhat the NFS areas. Section 36 of the Act dealt with its application to Scotland. Parts of the Act remain in force in Scotland. * 1959: Parts of the UK Fire Services Act 1959 remain in force in Scotland. * 1996: Creation of additional joint boards consequent to local government re-organisation. * 1999: Responsibility transfers from Secretary of State for Scotland to the

Scottish Executive The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in t ...

* 2002: Consultation Paper
"The Scottish Fire Service of the Future"
* 2003: Consultation Paper
"The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service: legislative proposals"
* 2004: introduction of Fire (Scotland) Bill consequent to 2003 consultation paper. * 2005:

Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 The Fire (Scotland) Act 2005
text (as passed). (asp 5) is an

Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 (asp 8) is an Act of the Scottish Parliament. This legislation merged the eight separate police forces and fire and rescue services in Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, ...

, creating a single

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is the national fire and rescue service of Scotland. It was formed by the merger of eight regional fire services in the country on 1 April 2013. It thus became the largest fire brigade in the Unite ...

with effect from 1 April 2013

Legislation and administration (Wales)

* 2006 : The

gave the

powers to pass laws on "Fire and rescue services. ndPromotion of fire safety otherwise than by prohibition or regulation.".

Government responsibility for fire services

Central government

Historically, there had been about 1,600 local authority

fire services A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade ( Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention an ...

under the responsibility of the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

in England and Wales until

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1941, the creation of the

brought all UK fire brigades under central government control. The National Fire Service was in turn under the auspices of the

Civil Defence Service The Civil Defence Service was a civilian volunteer organisation in Great Britain during World War II. Established by the Home Office in 1935 as Air Raid Precautions (ARP), its name was officially changed to the Civil Defence Service (CD) in 1941. ...

. Post-war legislation returned control to the Northern Ireland Government, the Home Office (for services in England and Wales) and the Secretary of State for Scotland.

England

The fire service has always been the ultimate responsibility of a government department, historically assisted by an executive agency called His Majesty's Fire Service Inspectorate or HMFSI, its function was described thus: Directly after the May 2001 general election, control of the fire service in England and Wales passed from the Home Office to the Department for Transport, Local Government and Regions (DTLR). This department was then broken up, creating the

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform administrative work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...

(ODPM) which took central government responsibility. In May 2006, the ODPM was re-structured, creating the

Department for Communities and Local Government The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for housing, communities, and local government in England. It was established in May 200 ...

(CLG), and it became the central government department for fire authorities in England, but would be advised by a new department under the direction of the

. The department became the

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for housing, communities, and local government in England. It was established in May 2006 ...

(MHCLG) in 2018, and then

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for housing, communities, and local government in England. It was established in May 200 ...

in September 2021.

Fire service ministers

The fire service minister is the most senior politician whose brief directly includes fire and rescue issues in England and Wales, other parts of the UK never having had the matter specifically under the control of a UK minister in peacetime. The fire service minister is not part of the prime minister's cabinet. The post is held by a junior minister or Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State who reports to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, who takes ultimate responsibility for fire and rescue, but that is part of a much wider brief. *

Michael Gove Michael Andrew Gove, Baron Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician and journalist who served in various Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabinet positions under David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rish ...

: Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government *

Stephen Greenhalgh, Baron Greenhalgh Stephen John Greenhalgh, Baron Greenhalgh (born 4 September 1967) is a British businessman and politician, and was the second Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime in London. He is a member of the Conservative Party. In April 2020 he was create ...

: Appointed in 2020 as Minister of State for Fire at MHCLG Previous ministers include: * Angela Smith: A former spokeswoman for Essex Fire and Rescue * Jim Fitzpatrick, himself a former firefighter in the London Fire Brigade and FBU representative *

Nick Raynsford Wyvill Richard Nicolls Raynsford (born 28 January 1945), known as Nick Raynsford, is a British politician who served as a government minister from 1997 to 2005. A member of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (United ...

the minister in charge when legislative control shifted from the Home Office to the ODPM. Mr Raynsford was also the minister during the 2002/3 national strikes

Regional government

Below national level, there are regional and local bodies whose role it is to establish a fire authority, implement the legislation from the tier above, while working alongside the relevant HMFSI and other interested bodies. *

(under direct control of Greater London Authority) * Metropolitan and county fire and rescue services or brigades - see below The next level beneath that of local authority, is a brigade which usually comes under the operational command of a high ranking senior officer. Traditionally

chief fire officer Chief fire officer (CFO), formerly often just chief officer or county fire officer, is the highest rank in the fire and rescue services of the United Kingdom. There are currently 50 chief fire officers serving in the United Kingdom in charge of t ...

s have risen through the ranks from firefighter, although under modernisation plans brigades can now operate graduate entry, and fast track promotion as is already the case with the

armed forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a ...

and the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

. The London Fire Brigade announced details of its graduate scheme in 2007. Chief Fire Officers (CFO) 'speak' collectively via the

. * Fire authority: local councillors elected to set policy on its fire and rescue services, and distribute funding, and approve major spending * Local authority: Chief executive - overall powers for all an authority's functions, including fire, rescue and resilience * Brigade: Chief Fire Officer (CFO), Brigade Manager, or (in Greater London) Commissioner - overall operational, strategic and command of a brigade or fire and rescue service CFOs do attend some operational incidents.

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

's CFO, Roy Wilsher, took command at the Buncefield oil depot fire in 2005, forming part of the

gold command Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal, a group 11 ...

team. If a CFO attends an incident, they will usually be the commanding officer of that incident.

Scotland

Except for the period when the

existed, matters concerning fire fighting fell within the remit of the Scottish Office (later the Scottish Executive, now the

). In Scotland, His Majesty's Fire Service Inspectorate for Scotland (commonly known HMFSI) exists to inspect the fire service to ascertain how they are discharging their functions under relevant legislation. It functions as an autonomous body under the charge of the Justice Ministry of the Scottish Government. Since 1 April 2013, there has been a single

in place of the eight former regional services.

Northern Ireland

Matters concerning fire fighting fell within the remit of the government of Northern Ireland, with two exceptions; the period of the existence of the National Fire Service (Northern Ireland), and the period of direct rule from Westminster when the government of Northern Ireland did not exist.

Wales

Responsibility for fire and rescue services and promotion of fire safety in Wales lies with the Welsh Government.

Inspections

In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, fire services are inspected by what was known as the Fire Service Inspectorate. In February 2007, the government announced it was establishing a new unit to provide ministers and civil servants with "independent professional advice on fire and rescue issues". It is headed by a new role known as the

. The roles carries the historical function of His Majesty's Fire Service Inspectorate. The Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser is also titled His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Fire Services. Its role (among others) is to work towards reducing the number of fire deaths in England and Wales, and implement changes to FRS required by the

.Department for Communities and Local Government, News Release 022, ''New Advisory Unit for Fire and Rescue Services to be Set Up'', 8 February 2007 In Scotland, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is inspected by His Majesty's Fire Service Inspectorate for Scotland.

Fire service structure

FRS or brigade-level

Brigades are further sub-divided according to local practice as follows: * Command: Large brigades, such as the

London Fire Brigade The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the Fire department, fire and rescue service for London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. 90), under the leadership of superintendent ...

, are divided into ''commands'' * Area: A brigade or FRS can also be divided into ''areas'', for example London used to consist of five geographical areas: northwest, north, northeast, southwest and southeast * Divisional: A smaller geographical area, again it can be decided locally; again London until 1986 consisted of eleven ''divisions'' * Borough: Brigades are now aligned with local councils, and because of London's size, its three commands also overlap with the London boroughs, so each borough is a small division. It now has borough teams, and a separate list of stations shows which borough it belongs to.

Firefighters

The following types of work pattern are found at fire stations: *Wholetime: Firefighters work full-time in on two day and two night shifts within the fire service. *Day crewed: Firefighters work a 10- to 12-hour day shift and are retained at night. *Day crew plus: Firefighters work a 24-hour shift consisting of 12 hours in station and spending the night at an accommodation building on the fire station plot. *

Retained In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a retained firefighter, also known as an RDS firefighter or on-call firefighter, is a firefighter who does not work on a fire station full-time but is paid to spend long periods of time on call to respond to eme ...

: Retained firefighters are on call for long periods to respond to incidents. They are paid a salary for the time they spend on call and a greater amount for each incident they respond to, on average two or three per week. Many have jobs outside of the fire service. *

Volunteer Volunteering is an elective and freely chosen act of an individual or group giving their time and labor, often for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency ...

: Volunteer firefighters are now rare, though some stations are run by volunteers in certain rural areas, such as Scotland and North Yorkshire. There are two small fire services that are run entirely by volunteers the Peterborough Volunteer Fire Brigade and the Borth Voluntary Fire Unit (near

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth (; ) is a University town, university and seaside town and a community (Wales), community in Ceredigion, Wales. It is the largest town in Ceredigion and from Aberaeron, the county's other administrative centre. In 2021, the popula ...

, Wales). These are contracted to provide services for a regular fire service. Large town fire stations have full-time crews, though many employ retained firefighters as well. Small rural ones are usually staffed only by retained firefighters.

Ranks and roles

Ranks and roles vary between services, but include: *Station commander or Station manager (formerly Assistant Divisional Officer) *Watch commander or Watch manager (formerly Station Officer, still used in the London Fire Brigade) * Sub-Officer *

Crew commander A crew commander or crew manager is a rank within the fire service in the United Kingdom. It is a senior rank to a firefighter, but junior to a watch commander or watch manager. The UK Fire Service is phasing out "ranks" in favour of "roles" and ...

or crew manager (roughly equivalent to the former

Leading Firefighter Leading firefighter (previously leading fireman and leading firewoman) is a rank in the Isle of Man Fire and Rescue Service, London Fire Brigade and the Gibraltar Fire and Rescue Service. It used to be in all British fire services, ranking bet ...

) *Firefighter Former ranks include: *Divisional officer

Resilience

The

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for supporting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and Cabinet ...

is responsible for the

Civil Contingencies Secretariat The Civil Contingencies Secretariat (CCS), created in July 2001 and disbanded in July 2022, was the executive department of the British Cabinet Office responsible for civil defence, emergency planning in the United Kingdom. The role of the sec ...

(CSS), which provides advice for individuals in case of a major disaster: ''"The (web)site provides easily understandable guidance for the general public on how to prepare themselves, their families and their homes and businesses to cope during an emergency or disaster."'' Any such emergency or disaster is likely to involve a UK FRS, and the generic term for such contingency plans has become known as ''resilience'' The 'Preparing for emergencies website' gives specific government advice on fire safety, specific examples include the summer fire safety campaign, and schools' fire safety guide which are just two examples.

Fire service funding

In the UK, an FRS generally provides its services for free, although there are some special services that can be charged for, and some additional services that can be paid for. The service is free to the end user in the case of an emergency. Funding for the fire service comes from two principal sources: a central government grant, and a small levy on the local council tax. This levy is called a ''precept''. There was a 17% reduction in fire service funding between 2010 and 2016, according to the National Audit Office.

Modernisation

The need for modernisation

In 2002, Professor Sir George Bain was asked by the government to conduct a wide-ranging review of the fire service in the UK. His report, the

, led to rapid changes to fire and rescue services, and was the basis of what eventually became the

. Bain's terms of reference were described in September 2002 as follows: "Having regard to the changing and developing role of the Fire Service in the United Kingdom, to inquire into and make recommendations on the future organisation and management of the Fire Service..." Bain's report was unpopular with firefighters, and a long period of

industrial action Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay and to increas ...

started in 2002 and continued until 2003 when a new pay and conditions package was put together. One of the areas identified by Bain as being in need of modernisation was FRS approach to fire prevention and community fire safety. There is now more emphasis on

fire prevention Fire prevention is a function of many fire departments. The goal of fire prevention is to educate the public on the precautions that should be taken to prevent potentially harmful fires from occurring. It is a proactive method of preventing fir ...

and providing public information coupled with encouraging businesses and individuals to take responsibility for providing a risk assessment of businesses — which became law in October 2006. Additionally, changes to central government, local government, and geographical boundaries have affected the fire service in the UK. The fire service in England consists of

local authority Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

brigades or FRSs, which come under the administrative control of metropolitan and shire, or county fire authorities (e.g.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service Essex County Fire and Rescue Service (ECFRS) is the statutory fire and rescue service for the county of Essex in the east of England, and is one of the largest fire services in the country, covering an area of and a population of over 1.7mill ...

). Most

statutory A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...

firefighting bodies consist of a fire authority and brigade, the former responsible for political and administrative aspects of service provision and the latter for delivering it. For example,

Oxfordshire County Council Oxfordshire County Council is the county council (upper-tier local authority) for the non-metropolitan county of Oxfordshire in the South East of England. Established in 1889, it is an elected body responsible for most strategic local government ...

is responsible for

Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service The Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service is the fire service serving the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is predominantly an on-call fire service, although also has whole-time support. Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters is in Kidlington, Ox ...

. The armed forces, private fire brigades and airports all make their own firefighting provision. Another area identified in Bain's report was the FRS' capacity to respond to major incidents. Bain's review stated that the fire service should have specific responsibilities for: "Emergency preparedness coupled with the capacity and resilience to respond to major incidents of terrorism and other chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear threats". In England and Wales, three projects are being rolled out that will help the FRS deal with incidents like these. The projects come under the umbrella of the Fire Resilience programme. The programme will provide the FRS with a far greater resilience and control to handle all types of incident. In 2010, firefighters from across the UK and European Union held an urban search and rescue exercise near

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

. Exercise Orion simulated rescuing survivors from buildings and bridges which had collapsed during an earthquake.

New Dimension

New Dimension was the first Fire Resilience project to be implemented. It provided FRSs with a wide range of equipment and vehicles to help deal with major challenges like floods and terrorist attacks.

FireLink

FireLink is the new digital FRS wide area communications system in England, Scotland and Wales. The FRS use wide area radios to communicate between vehicles and control rooms but there has never been a fully compatible system. FireLink is more efficient and provides greater resilience for command and control. The fire service's ability to communicate efficiently, across different brigades and with other emergency services has never been easy. The issue was raised by Sir Desmond Fennell, who conducted the public inquiry into the

King's Cross fire The King's Cross fire occurred in 1987 at King's Cross St Pancras tube station in London, England, causing 31 fatalities. It began under a wooden escalator before spreading into the ticket hall in a flashover. The fire began at approximately ...

in 1987. Fennell recommended when his report was published in 1988 that fireground communications be addressed as an issue of "high importance".

FiReControl

Prof Bain's report highlighted many areas of proposed change that include working practices, shift hours and time spent on fire prevention duties. One of the proposals which is now well under way is the reduction of fire service control rooms. At present, each of England's 45 (the number FRS was reduced from 46 in April 2007 with the merger of Devon and Somerset FRSs) FRSs handles its own calls from either the

999 999 or triple nine most often refers to: * 999 (emergency telephone number), a telephone number for the emergency services in several countries * 999 (number), an integer * AD 999, a year * 999 BC, a year Media Books * 999 (anthology), ''99 ...

system or

mobile phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...

companies. Additionally, calls are accepted from the other emergency services by dedicated landlines. The FiReControl project planned to build nine new purpose-built Regional Control Centres (RCCs). The aim was to rationalise call handling and aim for greater communication between the emergency services. At present, 999 calls - whether by mobile telephone or landline - are answered by a BT operator, who feeds the call to a fire, police, ambulance, or coastguard

Emergency Control Centre In the United Kingdom, an emergency control centre or emergency communications centre (ECC) is a building or room where control room operators receive incoming telephone calls from members of the public in need of assistance. Callers make initial c ...

as required. Staff, known as control operators or control officers, also despatch the fire appliances, maintain radio communications and provide detailed risk and geographical information. These operators are employed by a FRS, wear a similar uniform to firefighters, and have their own rank structure. The role of specialist fire officers and control operators overlaps where they work jointly in control or command centres, but the subject of mobilising, command and control would change as the FiReControl project advances. Following much local resistance, and change of government, the FiReControl project was abandoned in 2010. No new control rooms were opened.

Fire safety

*''See separate article

'' Historically fire safety was a function of local authorities rather than the fire service however in 1947 the introduction of the Fire Services Act gave the Fire Brigades their first responsibilities for fire safety. The Fire Precautions Act 1971, the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 and the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 gave more powers to the service. Today, the modernisation of the UK fire service has taken into account the role that it plays in fire safety issues and that issue is high on the agenda of most fire and rescue services. Many brigades started to produce Integrated Management Plans (IMP) to take into account these new responsibilities and produced plans for not only fire safety in the workplace but also in the community. Now all fire and rescue services have community based fire safety departments. The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 now lays out in Section 6 what the fire service must do. It states that a fire and rescue authority must make provision for the purpose of promoting fire safety in its area and this must include the provision of information, publicity and encouragement in respect of the steps to be taken to prevent fires and death or injury by fire not only by the enforcement of specific fire safety legislation, but also by a proactive strategy targeted at all sections of the community.

Powers

Fire safety statistics in the UK

Fires and fire fatalities have dropped significantly in the UK over the past ten years as seen in the graphs to the right.

Incident reporting

Information about each fire incident is collected by each FRS to DCLG standards. The reporting standards include the following parameters: * Primary or secondary fire - primary fires involve damage to property with an identifiable owner and are coded FDR1. Secondary fires do not and are coded FDR3. * Accidental or deliberate fire * Occupancy of dwellings for accidental residential fires: Single Occupancy; Multiple Occupancy (Same); Multiple Occupancy (Different; No Occupancy * Deliberate secondary fires involving rubbish: domestic wheelie bins; commercial/business refuse bins; fixed/street litter bins; refuse /litter in the open. *The involvement of children, youths or adults *The registration plate details where available in relation to vehicle fires *Identified building names and street locations

Public fire and rescue services

England

See also: Fire Gateway clickable map of fire and rescue services in Englan

Northern Ireland

has had a single statutory fire service since 1950. *

Scotland

has also had a single statutory fire service since 1 April 2013, with its headquarters in Cambuslang. *

Wales

Wales saw a reduction in the number of fire brigades on local government reorganisation in 1996, from eight (the number of former administrative counties) to three, made up of groups of the new principal areas.

Crown Dependencies

Although not part of the United Kingdom, the

Crown dependencies The Crown Dependencies are three dependent territory, offshore island territories in the British Islands that are self-governing possessions of the The Crown, British Crown: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, both lo ...

fire and rescue services operate in close cooperation with, and to the same standards as, the UK fire and rescue services. They are: *

Jersey Fire and Rescue Service The Jersey Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service which deals with a broad range of incidents on the island of Jersey, including fires, road accidents, emergencies at sea, rescues from height, cliff based operations and ...

* Guernsey Fire and Rescue Service *

Isle of Man Fire and Rescue Service The Isle of Man Fire and Rescue Service is the fire brigade of the Isle of Man Government, providing fire and rescue cover throughout the Isle of Man, an independent Crown dependency located in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland. The serv ...

Other UK fire and rescue services

There are several specialised and private FRSs in the United Kingdom.

Airport fire services

Private airport fire services in the UK protect all categories of airports and aerodromes. They are usually referred to as Rescue and Fire Fighting Services (RFFS), or by the internationally recognised term Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF). One of the biggest aviation fire services is operated by BAA. Non-BAA airports operate their own fire services to comply with legislation which states that airports must be provided with RFFS. One such example is

London City Airport London City Airport is an international airport in London, England. It is located in the Royal Docks in the London Borough of Newham, Borough of Newham, about east of the City of London and east of Canary Wharf. These are the two centres ...

; its website describes the principal objective of an airport fire and rescue service: "as to save lives in the event of an aircraft accident or incident". The number and type of firefighting appliances based at an airport will be determined by the airport's category. Airports in the UK are categorised from 1 to 10. A category 10 airport caters for the biggest aircraft; the standards are determined by the Civil Aviation Authority.

Defence Fire and Rescue Service

The

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

operates its own fire and rescue organisation. Originally this consisted of a civilian fire service known as the "Defence Fire Service" and the ''RAF Firefighting and Rescue Service''. They were known collectively as the ''Ministry of Defence Fire Services'', but in 2004 were formed into the Defence Fire and Rescue Service. This also includes private contractors brought in to protect sites such as small defence establishments. The DFRS is the largest non geographical or local authority FRS in the UK, though the training, rank structure and equipment used are similar to that operated by their local authority fire service counterparts. As a general rule the RAF personnel cover runways or airfields with particular expertise in defusing aircraft munitions, with the civilians covering domestic sites, but there were cross overs and both services could be called to airfield and domestic situations. Both RAF and defence personnel can serve abroad both in peacetime and at war.

Fire services protecting royal properties

Several state properties, including royal residences and the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...

, are protected by their own fire services in the interests of protecting sites of heritage and royal importance. The Royal Household Fire Service is responsible for firefighting at Royal properties.

Private and industrial FRS

Some large factories operate their own private or industrial fire services to protect their interests and provide a first attack capability until local authority fire crews arrive. These companies often combine fire and medical response under the banner of "Plant Protection" BMW and Jaguar Land Rover are two examples of factories with this provision.

Civil nuclear

Sellafield Sellafield, formerly known as Windscale, is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste storage, nuclear waste processing and storage and nucle ...

and all operational

nuclear power station A nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as a nuclear power station (NPS), nuclear generating station (NGS) or atomic power station (APS) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power st ...

operators have their own on-site fire service which is required by law under site nuclear licensing conditions.

Ports

Some large ports have their own fire service, such as

Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest Containerization, containe ...

Event fire safety services

Several private event fire safety units operate in the UK at major events such as air shows, regattas, concerts and on film sets. They sometimes use the services of off-duty fire fighters and emergency personnel to provide fire cover at outdoor events. The cover normally consists of one or two standard fire appliances with perhaps a rapid response or control vehicle. A smaller number of companies offer complex event fire safety packages for large events or civil contingencies, including the provision of specialist off-road fire appliances, dedicated pump rescue ladders and other technical and specialist vehicles. Their roles are to provide a niche response where the fire services have no legal obligation or the specialist vehicles required for the high risk category.

References

External links

* * – National Fire Chiefs Council {{DEFAULTSORT:Fire Service In The United Kingdom Fire and rescue in the United Kingdom Fire and rescue services of Scotland

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...