The Defence Fire Training and Development Centre (DFTDC, formerly FSCTE Manston) was the site of the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

's firefighter training. It occupied part of a former

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

base near the village of Manston in the southeast corner of England. The remainder of the former

RAF Manston Royal Air Force Manston or more simply RAF Manston is a former Royal Air Force station located in the north-east of Kent, at on the Isle of Thanet from 1916 until 1996. The site was split between a commercial airport Kent International Airpor ...

was part of

Kent International Airport Manston Airport was a British airport. It was branded as Manston, Kent International Airport and was located in the parish of Minster-in-Thanet and partly adjacent to the village of Manston in the Thanet district of Kent, England, north-east ...

, a civilian airfield, until the site was closed on the 15 May 2014.

History

RAF Firefighter During a Training Exercise MOD 45152012

The USAF returned the Manston base to the RAF in 1959, and a number of training establishments were established there, including the Air Ministry Fire Training School. On 1 January 1989 the RAF consolidated the RAF Fire Fighting and Rescue Squadron from

RAF Catterick Royal Air Force Catterick or RAF Catterick is a former Royal Air Force airfield located near Catterick, North Yorkshire in England. It is located alongside the A6055 road on the outskirts of Catterick Village. Although initially a flying stati ...

to Manston, forming the RAF Fire Services Central Training Establishment (CTE). In 1995, the station was chosen to be the central training facility for all MOD firefighter training operations, and became MOD FSCTE. On 31 March 1999, the remainder of RAF Manston closed, leaving FSCTE as the sole occupant of the previous domestic side of the base. The airside part of the base was signed over to the existing commercial operator to form Kent International Airport. In April 2007 the Army assumed responsibility for firefighting throughout the British armed forces, with the creation of the Defence Fire Risk Management Organisation (DFRMO) at Andover. This led to the transfer of FSCTE from

RAF Strike Command The Royal Air Force's Strike Command was the military formation which controlled the majority of the United Kingdom's bomber and fighter aircraft from 1968 until 2007 when it merged with Personnel and Training Command to form the single Air C ...

RAF High Wycombe RAF High Wycombe is a Royal Air Force station, situated in the village of Walters Ash, near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England. It houses Headquarters Air Command, and was originally designed to house RAF Bomber Command in the late 1930s ...

HQ Land Forces United Kingdom Land Forces was a command of the British Army responsible for generating and preparing forces for current and contingency operations. The commander of the forces was known as Commander-in-Chief, United Kingdom Land Forces, who in ...

at Wilton (now Andover), controlled locally by HQ 2 Brigade at Shorncliffe Barracks, Folkestone. On 22 October 2020, the final class of RAF fire fighters graduated at FSCTE before training moved to the

Fire Service College The Fire Service College is responsible for providing leadership, management and advanced operational training courses for senior fire officers from the United Kingdom and foreign fire authorities. It is located at Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucester ...

, ending the RAF's 104 years association with Manston. Reservists from 3rd Battalion the

Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (or PWRR, also known as 'The Tigers') is the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, second in the line infantry order of precedence to the Royal Regiment of Scotland and part of the Qu ...

and an Air Cadet Squadron will remain on-site.

Manston Fire Museum

Inside the base, the old RAF CTE building was a museum of firefighting, especially as it related to the RAF, called the Manston Fire Museum. This started as the private collection of Flt Sgt Steve Shirley; when he was posted to Manston the RAF agreed to take it over and it opened as the Ministry of Defence Fire Museum in June 1995. It was renamed the Manston Fire Museum in November 1998. The collection included vehicles, models, badges, patches, uniforms, helmets, prints, extinguishers and fire fighting equipment. The museum closed in 2014 and the collections were transferred to the Museum of RAF Firefighting at

Scampton Scampton is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish including Brampton and Broadholme at the 2011 census was 1,358. It is situated north of Lincoln, south-east of Ga ...

Manston Asylum Processing Centre

From February 2022 buildings and temporary structures located on the former DFTDC Manston site were being used as a processing centre for the people reaching the UK in small boats. Officially referred to by the Home Office as the

Manston Asylum Processing Centre Manston is the name of a number of settlements in England: * Manston, Dorset * Manston, Kent ** location of the former RAF Manston airfield, Manston Airport and the Manston Asylum Processing Centre * Manston, Leeds Manston is a suburb and forme ...

migrants are meant to be held at the facility for short periods of time while undergoing security and identity checks.

References

Works cited

External links