Fire Brigade in the UK
The fire departments in the UK to work in England and Wales , in Northern Ireland and in Scotland under separate legislative and administrative regulations.
The emergency response is of over fifty firefighters - and emergency services (English: Fire and Rescue Services) (FRS) made as they are defined by the current legislation and by government agencies. Many of these FRS were previously known as fire brigades or district fire departments.
The FRS differ from a fire department, which is a legislative, public, and administrative body . The fire brigade authorities in England and Wales (and earlier also Scotland) and thus also fire and rescue services are financed to a large extent from tax revenues. Scotland and Northern Ireland have centralized their fire and rescue services.
The total budget for fire services in Great Britain in 2014-15 was £ 2.9 billion . The central government maintains national standards and a panel of independent advisors through the Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser, which was established in 2007. The government in Scotland has a similar body with HMFSI Scotland.
Firefighters in the UK are allowed to join unions . The largest union is the Fire Brigades Union, while the heads of the various FRS members are organized in the Chief Fire Officers Association.
Fire services have undergone significant changes since the beginning of the 21st century. This is particularly true of the process fueled by the delegation of powers to central government to create new laws and changes in operating procedures in the face of attacks and threats from terrorism .
Fire department structure
Fire and Rescue Services / Fire Brigade Level
Fire brigade units are divided on site as follows:
- Commands: Large brigades, like the London Fire Brigade, are divided into commands.
- Areas: A brigade or FRS can also be divided into areas.
- Division: A smaller geographical area, it can be decided locally.
- District: Brigades are coordinated with local authorities.
Firefighters
The following types of employment can be found in the fire stations :
- Wholetime: Fire service members work full-time in two day and night shifts within the fire service.
- Day crew: Fire fighters work 10 to 12 hours a day and are on call at night.
- Day crew plus: Fire service members work a 24-hour shift, which consists of 12 hours in the station, and spend the night in a building on the site of the fire station.
- Retained: Fire fighters are ready for long periods of time (at least 70 hours per week) to respond to alarms. They receive a salary for the time they spend on call and a higher amount for each effort. Many of these people have jobs outside of the fire service.
- Volunteers: Volunteer fire fighters are very rare, although some volunteer fire service stations in certain rural areas such as Scotland and North Yorkshire are volunteer operated.
Large city fire stations have full-time crews and additional fire service members on standby to employ. Small rural ones are normally only occupied by fire brigade members deployed in the event of an alarm .
Alerts
In England, the local fire and rescue services were alerted a total of 495,400 times in the 2014/15 reporting year. Around 154,700 of these were fires (31%) and around 125,000 incidents involved assistance (25%). There were also around 215,600 false positives (44%). 258 burn victims were recorded during these operations.
The last significant major fire in took place on June 14, 2017 when the 24-storey high-rise Grenfell Tower in the district of North Kensington ( Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea ) in the western city center of London burned out with at least 80 fatalities and 79 injuries. Around 200 firefighters with 40 emergency vehicles were deployed.
Public fire and rescue services
England
The following fire departments exist in England:
- Avon Fire and Rescue Service
- Bedfordshire and Luton Fire and Rescue Service
- Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service
- Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service
- Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service
- Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service
- Cleveland Fire Department
- Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service
- County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service
- Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service
- Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service
- Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service
- Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Services
- East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service
- Essex County Fire and Rescue Services
- Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service
- Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service
- Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service
- Fire and Rescue Services in Hereford and Worcester
- Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service
- Humberside Fire and Rescue Services
- Isles of Scilly Fire and Rescue Service
- Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service
- Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service
- Kent Fire and Rescue Service
- Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service
- Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service
- London Fire Brigade LFEPA
- Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service
- Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service
- Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service
- Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service
- North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
- Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service
- Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service
- Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service
- South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
- Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service
- Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service
- Surrey Fire and Rescue Service
- Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service
- Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service
- West Midlands Fire Department
- West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service
- Fire and Rescue Service in West Yorkshire
Wales
Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service:
- Fire stations: Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire, Powys, Swansea
North Wales Fire and Rescue Service:
- Fire stations: Anglesey, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd, Wrexham
South Wales Fire and Rescue Service:
- Fire stations: Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire, Newport, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Torfaen, Vale of Glamorgan
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland has had a single statutory fire service since 1950:
- Northern Irish Fire and Rescue Service
Scotland
Scotland has a single statutory fire station as of April 1, 2013, based in Perth :
- Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
Other British fire and rescue services
There are several specialized and private FRS in the UK.
Airport fire brigade
Private airport fire departments in the UK protect all categories of airports and airfields. They are usually referred to as rescue and fire fighting services .
Defense and Rescue Service
The UK Ministry of Defense operates its own fire and rescue organization.
Fire brigades to protect royal facilities
The Royal Fire Brigade at Buckingham Palace:
Several government buildings, including royal residences and the Palace of Westminster, are protected by their own fire departments to protect sites of heritage and royal rule. The Royal Household Fire Service is responsible for fighting fires in Royal properties.
Private and industrial FRS
Some large factories operate their own private or industrial (plant) fire brigades to protect their property and create an initial opportunity for attack until local fire brigades arrive.
Fire brigade in nuclear power plants
British Nuclear Fuels and a few other nuclear power plant operators have their own British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) fire service on site.
Harbor fire departments
Several large ports have their own fire brigade, such as the port city of Felixstowe .
Fire brigades for fire protection at events
Several private event fire departments are present in the UK at major events such as air shows, regattas, concerts and film sets.
Web links
- The Fire Service College
- The Scottish Fire Services College
- Her Majesty's Fire Service Inspectorate
- Firefighter Test Preparation
- Fire service
- UK Fire News
Individual evidence
- ↑ FIRE AND RESILIENCE. Department for Communities and Local Government, accessed May 27, 2018 .
- ↑ Statistical Analyzes 2015 / UK Government spending. (PDF) Chief Secretary to the Treasury by Command of Her Majesty, p. 69 , accessed May 27, 2018 .
- ^ A b Franz-Josef Sehr : East Sussex Fire Brigade . In: Florian Hessen 4/1989 . Munkelt Verlag, 1989, ISSN 0936-5370 , p. 31-32 .
- ↑ Fire Statistics Monitor: England April 2014 to March 2015. (PDF) Department for Communities and Local Government, accessed May 27, 2018 .
- ↑ FOCUS Online: Grenfell Tower: death toll this year no longer to be determined . In: FOCUS Online . June 28, 2017 ( focus.de [accessed June 30, 2017]).