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| Operational area | |
|---|---|
| Country | England |
| County | Northumberland |
| Agency overview[1] | |
| Established | 1 April 1974 (1974-04-01) |
| Annual calls | 3,797(2022–2023) |
| Employees | 462 |
| Annual budget | £14.1 million |
| Chief Fire Officer | Lynsey McVay(interim) |
| Facilities and equipment[2] | |
| Stations | 15 |
| Engines | 22 |
| Website | |
www | |
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Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS) is thestatutoryfire and rescue service for the county ofNorthumberland inNorth East England. Its headquarters are co-located with West Hartford fire station inCramlington.
TheNorthumberland Fire Brigade (NFB) was formed in 1948 from the many local fire services located in the traditional county of Northumbria, between theTyne and theTweed rivers.[3] The Local Government Reorganisation act (1971), which came into effect in 1974, saw the transfer of four of the busiest NFB stations (Gosforth, Newburn, Wallsend and Whitley Bay), into the newly formed Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service. This also prompted a name change toNorthumberland County Fire Brigade.[4]
The current name was adopted in 1982, reflecting the type of callouts the service was receiving.[5] Between 1966 and 2010, the brigade's headquarters had been in Morpeth,[6] however, in June 2010, a new headquarters building and fire station was opened up at West Hartford in Cramlington.[7][8]The headquarters, together with a new fire station atPegswood and other fire stations across the North East region, were constructed as part of a £27 millionprivate finance initiative (PFI) project initiated by the North East Fire and Rescue Authority.[9]
Annual callouts for the service average around 3,800. In the period from October 2017 to September 2018, Northumberland had 3,797 callouts of which 1,674 were fires and 1,278 were false alarms.[1]
Every fire and rescue service inEngland and Wales is periodically subjected to a statutory inspection byHis 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, Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service was rated as follows:
| Area | Rating 2018/19[10] | Rating 2021/22[11] | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Effectiveness | Requires improvement | 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? |
The service's fire stations, which are crewed by wholetimefirefighters,retained firefighters, or a combination of the two, are listed below.[12]Some of the stations are shared with other organisations. There are 15 fire stations, excluding the garage onHoly Island,[13] staffed by 141 full time firefighters and 143 retained firefighters.[13]
| Station | Duty system[12] | Appliances[12] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allendale | Retained | fire appliance, multi-purpose 4x4 vehicle | Sure Start |
| Alnwick | Retained | 2x fire appliances,multi-purpose 4x4,Command support Unit | |
| Amble | Retained | fire appliance, multi-purpose 4x4 vehicle | North East Ambulance Service |
| Belford | Retained | fire appliance, multi-purpose 4x4 vehicle | |
| Bellingham | Retained | fire appliance, multi-purpose 4x4 vehicle |
|
| Berwick | Day crewed / Retained | 2x fire appliances, multi-purpose 4x4 vehicle, swift water rescue team, animal rescue equipment, decontamination shower, air shelter, explosimeter, oversized drums for safely dealing with chemical incidents | |
| Haltwhistle | Retained | fire appliance, multi-purpose 4x4 vehicle | |
| Hexham | Day crewed / Retained | 2x fire appliances, multi-purpose 4x4 vehicle, swift water rescue team, animal rescue equipment, decontamination shower, explosimeter, gas detection monitor, oversized drums for safely dealing with chemical incidents, radiation contamination meter | |
| Holy Island | Unstaffed garage (crewed from neighbouring stations) | fire appliance | |
| Pegswood | Wholetime / Retained | 3x fire appliances, multi-purpose 4x4 vehicle, high volume pumping unit, swift water rescue team, flood prevention unit,Aerial Ladder Platform, animal rescue equipment, environmental protection equipment, oversized drums for safely dealing with chemical incidents, radiation contamination meter |
|
| Ponteland | Retained | fire appliance, multi-purpose 4x4 vehicle, Betsy water pumping unit | Opened in March 2021[14] |
| Prudhoe | Retained | fire appliance, multi-purpose 4x4 vehicle | North East Ambulance Service |
| Rothbury | Retained | fire appliance, multi-purpose 4x4 vehicle | Sure Start (opened in 2010)[15] |
| Seahouses | Retained | fire appliance, multi-purpose 4x4 vehicle | Sure Start |
| West Hartford | Wholetime | 2x fire appliances, multi-purpose 4x4 vehicles, multi-purpose vans, multiple light support vehicles, minibus, fire investigation unit, incident response unit, snow plough and gritter units, wildfire unit, specialist rescue unit, animal response equipment, dams and portable reservoirs, decontamination shower, air shelter, crowd barriers, forklift truck, oversized drums for safely dealing with chemical incidents, radiation contamination meter | North East Ambulance Service & Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service headquarters - opened in 2010[7] |
| Wooler | Retained | fire appliance, multi-purpose 4x4 vehicle | Sure Start |
The fire station at Haydon Bridge closed in 2016.[16]
