The Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS) is a
fire and rescue service
A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish conflagration, hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisd ...
covering the county of
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by
two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...
,
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 ...
. NFRS covers an area of area with a population of around 750,000.
History
Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service was founded in 1974 when the former Northamptonshire Fire Brigade and Northampton Borough Fire Brigade (both formed in 1948 by the
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 authorities ...
) merged.
In April 2021, Moulton Logistics Centre closed down, leaving Moulton Fire Station and the service's workshops behind. The new headquarters for the service is now shared with Northamptonshire Police, at a new site in Wellingborough.
Organisation
Since 2019, the fire service has been overseen by the
Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner
The Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC) is the elected official charged with overseeing Northamptonshire Police and the Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service and ensuring both, the police and the fire service are operatin ...
.
It was previous overseen by
Northamptonshire County Council
Northamptonshire County Council was the county council that governed the non-metropolitan county of Northamptonshire in England. It was originally formed in 1889 by the Local Government Act 1888, recreated in 1974 by the Local Government Act 19 ...
.
NFRS has 22
fire station
__NOTOC__
A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire h ...
s,
with 28 fire engines,
a headquarters in Wellingborough, and an administration hub in Kettering which is shared with
Northamptonshire Police
Northamptonshire Police (colloquially known as Northants Police) is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Northamptonshire in the East Midlands of England, in the United Kingdom.
The Northampton Police area includ ...
.
Its
firefighter
A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...
s are split 62% wholetime and 38%
retained (on-call).
Performance
In November 2018, an inspection of NFRS by
(HMICFRS) found that the service was routinely operating below the safe number of fire engines needing to cover the county. It also found that firefighter training records were incomplete and the service could not assure itself that they all had the necessary safety-critical skills.
Three followup visits by HMICFRS in 2019 and 2020, allowed them to announce in March 2021 that they were satisfied with NFRS progress.
In 2018/2019, every fire and rescue service 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 ...
was subjected to a statutory inspection by
(HIMCFRS). The inspection investigated how well the service performs in each of three areas. On a scale of outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate, Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service was rated as follows:
See also
*
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 ...
References
External links
*
Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Serviceat
HMICFRS
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 ...
{{ UK fire service
Fire and rescue services of England
Organisations based in Northamptonshire
Organizations established in 1948
North Northamptonshire
West Northamptonshire District