Northern Ireland Fire And Rescue Service
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) is the
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 ...
fire and rescue service for
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 ...
. The NIFRS is overseen by the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service Board, which in turn is subordinate to the
Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their o ...
. NIFRS has a workforce of around 2,230 personnel. NIFRS covers
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 ...
, an area of over with a population of 1.9 million people. Service Headquarters is located in
Lisburn Lisburn ( ; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with t ...
,
County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...
. The current Chief Fire & Rescue Officer is Aidan Jennings.


History

Organised firefighting began in what is now Northern Ireland in the 19th century. In 1800, the Belfast Borough Police were established and firefighting was one of their duties. The firefighting units were later separated from the police to form the Belfast Fire Brigade. 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 ...
, towns had their own fire services. In 1942, Northern Ireland's fire services were amalgamated into one, though they were separate from 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 ...
that covered the rest of the United Kingdom. After the war, the service was split into the re-established Belfast Fire Brigade and the Northern Ireland Fire Authority, which covered the rest of Northern Ireland. On 1 October 1973, the two fire services were merged into a single service, named ''Northern Ireland Fire Brigade''. In 2006, the service adopted its current name of ''Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service''.


Fire stations

NIFRS has 68 fire stations split into four geographical command areas. The Eastern area has seven fire stations serving 360,000 people in an area of . It is headquartered in
Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
, with a north & west district headquarters at Whitla fire station, and a south & east district headquarters at Knock fire station. The Northern area has 17 fire stations serving 489,000 people in an area of . It is headquartered in
Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 31,205 people at the 2021 United Kingdom census, making it the List of localities in Northern Ireland by population, seven ...
, with district headquarters at Ballymena,
Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, No ...
, and
Glengormley Glengormley () is a townland (of 215 acres) and electoral ward in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Glengormley is within the urban area of Newtownabbey bordering Belfast, and is located in the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council area. It ...
. The Southern area has 23 fire stations serving 595,000 people in an area of . It is headquartered in
Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...
, with district headquarters in Bangor,
Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Down Cathedral, Its cathedral is sai ...
,
Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, standing on the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Down, Down and County Armagh, Armagh. It is near Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, the border with the ...
, and Portadown. The Western area has 20 fire stations serving 450,000 people in an area of . It is headquartered in
Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...
, with district headquarters in
Cookstown Cookstown (, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the fourth-largest town in the county and had a population of 12,546 in the 2021 census. It, along with Magherafelt and Dungannon, is one of the main towns in the Mid-Ulster ...
,
Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 14,086 at the 2011 censu ...
, Derry, and
Omagh Omagh (; from , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers River Drumragh, Drumragh and Camowen River, Camowen meet to form the River Strule, Strule. Northern Ireland's c ...
.


Statistics

In 2016/17, NIFRS received 36,069 emergency calls, an increase of 7.9% on the previous year. Of these calls a total of 23,740 were mobilised


List of chief fire officers

, Aidan Jennings is the chief fire officer of NIFRS. He succeeds Interim Chief Fire & Rescue Officer Andy Hearn. 1973: The Belfast Fire Brigade amalgamated with the Northern Ireland Fire Authority to become the Northern Ireland Fire Brigade. * 19731982: George Morrison * 19821984: Clive Halliday * 19851998: William Beggs * 19881995: Kenneth McNeill * 19951996: Stephen Walker * 19962002: John McClelland * from 2003: Colin Lammey 2006: Northern Ireland Fire Brigade name changes to, Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service.'' * 20102012: Peter Craig * 20122015: Chris Kerr * 20152016: Dale Ashford (interim) * 20162020: Gary Thompson * 20202021: Michael Graham (interim) * 20212022: Peter O'Reilly * 20222023: Andy Hearn (interim) * 2023present: Aidan Jennings


See also

*
Fire service in the United Kingdom The fire services in the United Kingdom operate under separate legislative and administrative arrangements in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. As of 2023, emergency cover is provided by 49 ''fire and rescue services'' (FRS) in ...
* Firefighters *
List of fire departments This is a list of fire departments in the world. A fire department or fire brigade also known as a fire and rescue service or fire service is a public sector, public or private sector, private organization that provides firefighting, rescue and em ...
*
List of British firefighters killed in the line of duty This article is a list of British firefighters killed in the line of duty since 1900. As such, it only lists those firefightersThe term ''firefighter'' is used as it is not gender-specific. Most deaths will have originally been reported as the ge ...
*
List of Government departments and agencies in Northern Ireland A list of Northern Ireland government departments, their agencies and their ministers and related organisations. The devolved government of Northern Ireland (the Northern Ireland Executive) is responsible for most public services in the region but ...
* History of the Belfast Fire Brigade


References


External links

* {{UK fire service Non-departmental public bodies of the Northern Ireland Executive Fire and rescue services of the United Kingdom