Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service

Fire and rescue service in western England

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Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service

Operational area
Country| England
Counties| Herefordshire
Worcestershire
Agency overview
Established| 1 April 1974
Annual calls| 7,901 (2020–21)[1]
Employees|

* 228 wholetime firefighters
* 379 retained firefighters
* 22 Fire Control staff
* 119 support staff

(2021)[1]
Annual budget| £35.8 million (2020–21)[1]
Chief Fire Officer| Jonathon Pryce '
Facilities and equipment
Divisions| 3
Stations| 25
Engines| 34
Platforms| 2
USAR| 5 modules
Rescue boats| 3
Website
www.hwfire.org.uk

The Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service (HWFRS) is the statutory fire and rescue service covering Herefordshire and Worcestershire in the West Midlands region of England. The service covers an area of 1,514 square miles (3,920 km2), and a population of around 780,000 people.[2]

The service was created in 1974 when The County Of Hereford Fire Brigade and The Worcester City & County Fire Brigade were merged to create The County Of Hereford and Worcester Fire Brigade. The two counties split up again in 1998 but the fire service remained, and is now run by a joint fire authority.[1]

## Operations

[edit]

The service's Chief Fire Officer is Jonathon Pryce, replacing Nathan Travis, who retired in March 2021.[3]

In October 2019, HWFRS entered into a formal alliance with neighbouring Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service.[4] The alliance covers procurement, following previous cooperation on computer systems, fire control and risk management. In June 2020, the two services announced that they were considering a single fire control centre.[5]

HWFRS has 332 wholetime operational staff, 369 retained (part-time) staff, 21 Fire Control staff, as well as about 98 non-uniformed support staff.

Neighbouring fire services include: Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Mid and West Wales, South Wales and the West Midlands.

## Performance

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Every fire and rescue service in England and Wales is periodically subjected to a statutory inspection by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). The inspections investigate how well the service performs in each of three areas. On a scale of outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate, Herefordshire Fire and Rescue Service was rated as follows:

HMICFRS Inspection Hereford and Worcester  Area | Rating 2018/19[6] | Rating 2021/22[7] | Description

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|
|

Effectiveness | Good | Requires improvement | How effective is the fire and rescue service at keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks?
Efficiency | Requires improvement | Requires improvement | How efficient is the fire and rescue service at keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks?
People | Requires improvement | Requires improvement | How well does the fire and rescue service look after its people?

## Fire stations

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HWFRS splits its fire stations into three districts – North and South, both of which are located in Worcestershire, and West in Herefordshire.[8]

Each fire station is crewed using one of three duty systems, or a combination:[8]

* Wholetime – five fire stations are crewed 24 hours a day, seven days a week by full-time firefighters,[9] working on a variety of shift patterns of two nine-hour day shifts and two 15-hour night shifts followed by four days off.
* Retained – the majority of fire stations use retained firefighters, who are on call and live or work within five minutes of the station.[10]
* Day-crewed – three day-crewed stations are crewed for 12 hours a day by full-time firefighters working on a shift pattern of four 12-hour shifts (07:00–19:00) then four days off. The fire station is crewed by the retained firefighters at night

As of 2021[update], there were 228 wholetime and 379 retained firefighters across the 25 fire stations.[1]

## See also

[edit]

* List of British firefighters killed in the line of duty

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e "Fire Authority Annual Report 2020-2021" (PDF). Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
2. ^ "Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service". HMICFRS. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
3. ^ Wilson, John (29 March 2021). "Herefordshire's new fire chief named". Hereford Times. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
4. ^ Moore, Alex (10 October 2019). "Shropshire fire service alliance with Hereford and Worcester is approved". Shropshire Star. Telford. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
5. ^ Goddard, Ben (20 June 2020). "Single fire control centre could be created to serve three counties". Hereford Times. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
6. ^ "Hereford and Worcester 2018/19". Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). 20 December 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
7. ^ "Hereford and Worcester 2021/22". Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). 15 December 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
8. ^ a b "Fire Stations". Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
9. ^ "Wholetime firefighters". Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
10. ^ "On-call firefighters". Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service. Retrieved 29 March 2021.

## External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service.

* Official website
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Fire services in the United Kingdom

England|

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* Warwickshire
* West Midlands
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Scotland|

* Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

Wales|

* Mid and West Wales (Borth Volunteers)
* North Wales
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Northern Ireland|

* Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service

Other|

* Airport fire services
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* Fire Service College

Historic|

* Army Fire Service
* Auxiliary Fire Service
* Defence Fire Training and Development Centre
* National Fire Service
* Ministry of Civil Aviation Aerodrome Fire Service
* Firefighters killed in the line of duty

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