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 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. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Emergency cover is provided by over fifty agencies. These are officially known as a fire and rescue service (FRS) which is 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 (and formerly Scotland) 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 Council Tax is a local taxation system used in England, Scotland and Wales. It is a tax on domestic property, which was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, replacing the short-lived Community Charge The Community C ...

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, 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 Scot ...

. 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 The first recorded inst ...

, while chief fire officers (the heads of the various FRS) are members of the National Fire Chiefs Council (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 follo ...

), 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 Sco ...

'' * ''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 Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, 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 The Fire Brigades Act 1938 (in force until 1941, repealed 1947) was the primary legislation for Great Britain, excluding London, that placed responsibility for the provision of a fire brigade onto the local authority, and away from the insurance c ...

. 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 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 services to local authoriti ...

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 The Fire Services Act 1959 is an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament passed "to amend the Fire Services Act 1947, and make further provision as to the pensions of persons transferring to or from the fire service and as to members of fire brigades ...

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 The Act was brought in after a referendum was held under the Greate ...

This act was necessary to allow for the formation of the

Greater London Authority The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the metonym "City Hall", is the devolved regional governance body of Greater London. It consists of two political branches: the executive Mayoralty (currently led by Sadiq Khan) and the ...

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), established under the Greater London Authority Act 1999. Its principal purpose was to run the London Fire Brigade. The 17 membe ...

. 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 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 Engl ...

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

Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (officially listed as ''The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 S.I. 2005 No. 1541'') is a statutory instrument applicable in England and Wales. The Order places the responsibility on individual ...

This piece of secondary legislation or

statutory instrument In many countries, a statutory instrument is a form of delegated legislation. United Kingdom Statutory instruments are the principal form of delegated or secondary legislation in the United Kingdom. National government 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 o ...

gave the

National Assembly for Wales The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English language, English and () in Welsh language, Welsh, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes ...

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. 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 authorities. Its core membership is made up of 339 English councils and the 22 Welsh councils through the Welsh Local Government Association. The LGA is p ...

. Its website outlines future changes, and 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. "''

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 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 parliament. ...

. 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 Communities and Local Government Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Department for Communities and Local Government and its associated bodies.'' 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 Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee (formerly the Housing, Communities and Local Government 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 ...

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 was elected General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) in May 2005. Politics Wrack joined the Labour Party Young Socialists in Salford in 1978 ...

from the

and John Bonney

. The second session heard evidence from

Shahid Malik Shahid Rafique Malik ( ur, شاہد رفیق ملک نے; born 24 November 1967) is a British Labour Party politician, a technology and media industry chairman, a visiting professor, and chairman and adviser to a number of non-profit organis ...

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 ...

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

Robin Southwell Robin Southwell, OBE, is a British businessman. He is the UK head of the aerospace company EADS (now Airbus). He was born on 10 April 1960, the son of Peter and Susan Southwell, and lives in Cobham, Surrey. He was educated at Finchley Manor Hill ...

CEO and Roger Diggle Project Director

EADS Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

. The committee was chaired by Dr

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 Counci ...

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, a

Statutory Corporation A statutory corporation is a government entity created as a statutory body by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, thus, they are statutes owned by a government or controlled by national or sub-national government to the (in ...

funded by the

Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety The Department of Health (DoH, ga, An Roinn Sláinte (IPA: �anˠˈɾˠiːn̪ʲˈsˠlaːnʲtʲə, Ulster-Scots: ''Männystrie o Poustie'') is a devolved Northern Irish government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The minister with ...

. * 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. The NFS was created in August 1941 by the amalga ...

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 in the Scottish Government. Previously the responsibility lay with the

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the Unit ...

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

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, 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 e ...

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

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 * 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). is an

The scope of this act includes a "fire safety regime for non-domestic premises", but it also includes legislation that allows for the provision and operation of fire and rescue services for the eight local authority and joint board FRS in Scotland. * 2012: Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, creating a single

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS; gd, Seirbheis Smàlaidh agus Teasairginn na h-Alba) 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. ...

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

under the responsibility of the Home Office in England and Wales until

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

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

Department for Communities and Local Government The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for housing, communities, local government ...

(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 Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser. The department became the

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of Government of the United King ...

(MHCLG) in 2018.

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 Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of Minister (government), government minist ...

who reports to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, who takes ultimate responsibility for fire and rescue, but that is part of a much wider brief. *

Robert Jenrick Robert Edward Jenrick (born 9 January 1982) is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Immigration since October 2022. He served as Minister of State for Health from September to October 2022. He served as Secretary of State fo ...

: Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government * Stephen Greenhalgh, Baron Greenhalgh: 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, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Greenwich and Wo ...

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, 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 the local authority fire ...

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. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

and the

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

. 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 one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

's CFO, Roy Wilsher, took command at the Buncefield oil depot fire in 2005, forming part of the gold command 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 Scottish Government). In Scotland,

Her Majesty's Fire Service Inspectorate for 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 Scot ...

(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 Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser. The roles carries the historical function of Her Majesty's Fire Service Inspectorate. The Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser is also titled Her 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 Her 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 and rescue service for London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865, under the leadership of superintendent Eyre Massey Shaw. It has 5,992staff, in ...

, 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 em ...

: 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 a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

: 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 In the United Kingdom the use of retained firefighters (who are part-time, but are paid when on duty) rather than volunteers is standard. The Peterborough Volunteer Fire Brigade, formed in 1884, is the only one of its kind remaining. Nowadays th ...

and the Borth Voluntary Fire Unit (near

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth () is a university and seaside town as well as a community in Ceredigion, Wales. Located in the historic county of Cardiganshire, means "the mouth of the Ystwyth". Aberystwyth University has been a major educational location in ...

, 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 *Watch commander or watch officer (formerly station officer, still used in the London Fire Brigade) *

Sub-officer Sub-Officer, or the equivalent in other languages, is a term used in many armed forces used to indicate ranks below commissioned officers. Sub-officer is equivalent to the term warrant officer in the British Commonwealth and the United States. ...

* Crew commander or crew manager (roughly equivalent to the former leading firefighter) *Firefighter Former ranks include: *Divisional officer

Resilience

The

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objecti ...

is responsible for the

Civil Contingencies Secretariat The Civil Contingencies Secretariat (CCS), created in July 2001, is the executive department of the British Cabinet Office responsible for emergency planning in the UK. The role of the secretariat is to ensure the United Kingdom's resilience ...

(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 Council Tax is a local taxation system used in England, Scotland and Wales. It is a tax on domestic property, which was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, replacing the short-lived Community Charge The Community C ...

. 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 action, strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay a ...

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 which should be taken to prevent potentially harmful fires and how to survive these fires in the event that they do o ...

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 public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

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 formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...

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 is responsible for Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service. 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 and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. 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 Command and control (abbr. C2) is a "set of organizational and technical attributes and processes ... hatemploys human, physical, and information resources to solve problems and accomplish missions" to achieve the goals of an organization or en ...

. 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 A tribunal of inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body. In many common law countries, such as the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, Australia and Canada, such a public inquiry differs from a royal ...

into the

King's Cross fire The King's Cross fire was a 1987 fire in a London Underground station with 31 fatalities, after a fire under a wooden escalator suddenly spread into the underground ticket hall in a flashover. The fire began at approximately 19:30 on 18 Novembe ...

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 Books * ''999'' (anthology) or ''999: T ...

system or

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

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. * Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service See also: History of fire brigades in the United Kingdom#Fire brigades in Northern Ireland, History of fire brigades in Northern Ireland

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 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 in the Jersey area, including fires, road accidents, emergencies at sea, rescues from height, cliff based operations and inci ...

* Guernsey Fire and Rescue Service *

Isle of Man Fire and Rescue Service The Isle of Man Fire and Rescue Service ( gv, Shirveish Mooghey as Savail Ellan Vannin) 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 ...

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 firefighting services. 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 a regional airport in London, England. It is located in the Royal Docks in the Borough of Newham, approximately east of the City of London and east of Canary Wharf. These are the twin centres of London's financial ...

; 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 A civil aviation authority (CAA) is a national or supranational statutory authority that oversees the regulation of civil aviation, including the maintenance of an aircraft register. Role Due to the inherent dangers in the use of flight vehicles, ...

Defence Fire and Rescue Service

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 ...

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 serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

, 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 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 processing and storage and nuclear decommissioning. Former activities included nucle ...

and some other

nuclear power station A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces elec ...

operators have their own on-site fire service.

Ports

Some large ports have their own fire service, such as

Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town in Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest container port in the United Kingdom. Felixstowe is approximately 116km (72 miles) northeast of London. His ...

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

*
Website of the 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 Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...