Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service

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Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service area
Coverage
Area Tyne and Wear
Size 540 sq. kilometres
Population 1.08 million
Operations
Formed 1974
HQ Barmston Mere, Washington
Stations 17
Website Tyne and Wear FRS
Fire Authority Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Authority.
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View of a Tyne and Wear Volvo Fire Appliance.
View of a Tyne and Wear Volvo Fire Appliance.

Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, formerly Tyne and Wear Metropolitan Fire Brigade is the statutory fire and rescue service covering the area of Tyne and Wear, England, providing emergency fire cover to a population of 1.08 million people and a geographical area of 540 square kilometres. Its Chief Fire Officer is Iain Bathgate, and its motto is 'Creating the safest community'.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service was formed in 1974, however it had been a requirement, since the passing of the Fire Brigades Act 1938 for local authorities to provide fire cover.[2] Previously fire cover was provided by a number of smaller services[3] In 2004 the name of the fire and rescue service was changed from Tyne and Wear Metropolitan Fire Brigade to Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, to reflect changes in local authority structure.[4] The FRS works closely with Northumbria Police in order to promote community issues.

[edit] Overview

The Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service serves over one million people in Sunderland, Newcastle and Tyneside.[5] The service responded to 24,025 incidents in the period 2004 to 2005, which consisted of 13,060 fires, 8495 false alarms and 2470 special service calls. Of its 15 wholetime, one part-wholetime/part-retained, and one retained fire stations, the FRS operates 49 frontline fire appliances consisting of:

  • 31 pumping appliances
  • 2 aerial ladder platforms
  • 1 turntable ladder
  • 1 emergency tender
  • 1 Operational support unit
  • 1 special rescue tender
  • 1 command support unit
  • 1 Boat transporter
  • 1 fire boat
  • 1 incident response unit
  • 1 DIM unit
  • 7 prime movers
  • 5 Urban search & rescue pods
  • 2 High Volume Pump Unit Pods
  • 1 Rescue Tender Pod
  • 1 dis-robe pod
  • 1 re-robe pod

[edit] Fire stations

There are currently seventeen fire stations in operation with the FRS. The following table contains information about them:

Community fire station Community facilities Location No. of fire appliances Status Call sign
Birtley Yes Durham road 3 (inc. 1 DIM unit) Wholetime and retained Whiskey
Chopwell Yes Derwent Street 1 Retained Zulu
Colby Court Yes Elswick road 3 (inc. 1 Emergency Tender) Wholetime Charlie
Fossway Yes Union road 5 (inc. 1 Turntable Ladder, 1 Boat transporter & 1 fire boat) Wholetime Foxtrot
Fulwell Yes Station road 2 (inc. 1 Ariel Ladder Platform) Wholetime Mike
Gateshead Yes Dryden road 4 (inc. 1 Ariel Ladder Platform & 1 operational support unit) Wholetime Victor
Gosforth No, (future plans) Jubilee road 2 Wholetime Echo
Hebburn Yes Victoria road west 3 (inc. 1 special rescue tender) Wholetime Tango
Farringdon Yes Northmoor road 2 Wholetime Quebec
Rainton Bridge Yes Mercantile road 1 Wholetime Hotel
South Shields Yes John Reid road 2 Wholetime Kilo
Sunderland Central Yes Railway row 6 (inc. 4 prime movers & 5 Urban search & rescue pods + 1 Rescue Tender Pod) Wholetime November
Swalwell Yes Market Lane 3 (inc. 1 Prime movers , 2 High Volume Pump Unit Pod) Wholetime Yankee
Tynemouth Yes Preston North Road 3 (inc. 1 incident response unit) Wholetime Juliet
Wallsend Yes Hadrian Road 2 Wholetime Golf
Washington Yes Glover industrial estate 3 (inc. 1 prime mover & 1 re-robe pod) Wholetime Sierra
West Denton Yes West Denton Way 3 (inc. 1 command support unit) Wholetime Alpha[6]

[edit] Dennis/Volvo fire appliances

Originally TWFRS Dennis Specialist Vehicles, efficient for fire service use. Over time the service depended less on Dennis appliances and more on Volvo. In recent years it has begun to use more Dennis appliances and it is currently a variation of Volvo and Dennis appliances. Five new Dennis vehicles are on order which are due to be delivered in the Spring of 2007.[citation needed] These five new Dennis appliances will be based at Hebburn, Gateshead, West Denton, South Shields and Tynemouth. Gateshead Fire Station has received a new Dennis appliance, others are still to come.

A Front and side view of another Tyne and Wear Volvo Fire Appliance.
A Front and side view of another Tyne and Wear Volvo Fire Appliance.
Tyne and Wear's Operational Support Unit
Tyne and Wear's Operational Support Unit

[edit] Community fire stations

The intention of community fire stations is to use them as meeting places to discuss fire related issues, as well as offer facilities for local citizens to receive fire safety information if should they require it. Another aim of the community fire stations was to "Provide the community with the highest standards of fire safety and firefighting services available" A lot of the community fire stations now have YFA (Young Firefighters Association) which allow children to experience what it would be like to be a firefighter and what work and effort is involved.[7]

During the 1980s and early 90's - the brigade used the “wellyphant” character to publicise it’s fire safety scheme amongst schoolchildren. As well as visiting schools, the character (usually an officer dressed up inside the giant pink elephant costume) visited supermarkets and towns across the brigade’s patch highlighting the message during the school holidays.

[edit] Changes to the fire service

Over the next few years the service will be buying new fire appliances and building several new fire stations. There are currently plans to replace one community fire station in Tynemouth and the future of Fulwell is currently being investigated (i.e. refurbishment, re-location or rebuilding on same site).[citation needed] The service has currently received another four New Dimension Prime Movers, these four new prime movers are based at Washington (for re-robe module) , ? and two at swalwell (1 for dis-robe module & 1 for high volume pump unit) , along with the existing three based at Sunderland Central for urban search and rescue. The emergency tender based at Sunderland Central Fire Station ended its service in March 2007 and will be replaced by a rescue tender pod. A new high volume pump unit pod has acquired by the FRS, it will be based at Swalwell fire station.

[edit] References

  1. ^ TWFRS: About Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service Retrieved on January 16, 2007
  2. ^ Creation of Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service Retrieved on June 1, 2007
  3. ^ Metropolitan Fire Brigade name change to FRS Retrieved on June 1, 2007
  4. ^ Dept for Communities and Local Govt/TSO: Fire Services Act 2003 Retrieved on June 1, 2007
  5. ^ coverage area by TWFRS Retrieved on June 1, 2007
  6. ^ Stations in operation with TWFRS Retrieved on June 1, 2007
  7. ^ " Community fire stations-purpose Retrieved on 31 January 2007

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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Fire and Rescue Services in the United Kingdom

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Northern Ireland