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Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service

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Country
  
England

Established
  
1974 (1974)

Stations
  
38

County
  
Cumbria

Chief Fire Officer
  
Paul Hancock

Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service for the Shire county of Cumbria, England. Of the 38 fire stations, there are six wholetime (Barrow-in-Furness, Carlisle, Kendal, Whitehaven, Workington and Penrith) and 32 retained. Since 2012 the headquarters are at Penrith next to the headquarters of Cumbria Constabulary.

Contents

History

The recent history of Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service really starts in 1947 when the fire service as we know it today was formed. Prior to that there was the National Fire Service and before that there were various independent services run by volunteers in villages, towns and cities throughout the country. Cumbria Fire Service was formed in 1974 after local government was reorganised. It took in Cumberland Fire Service, Westmorland Fire Service, Carlisle and Barrow Fire Services and parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire. Cumbria is the second largest county in the UK. In 2005, the service changed its name to Cumbria Fire & Rescue service to reflect the new responsibilities it now has.

Fire Stations/Appliances

Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service has split Cumbria into three areas, each containing two of the county's districts, they are:

Fire Appliance Glossary/Callsigns

  • Water Rescue Ladder (WrL): P1/P2
  • Duel Role Pump (DrP): P1
  • Light 4x4 Pump (L4P): L1
  • Water Carrier/Driver Training (WrC): W1
  • Aerial Ladder Platform (ALP): A1
  • Command & Control Unit (CCU): C1
  • Wildfire Unit (WFU): M1
  • Major Rescue Unit (MRV): R1
  • Welfare Unit (WelfU): S8
  • General Purpose Vehicle (GPV): T1
  • Prime Mover (PM): T8/T9

    • Pods:

  • Environmental Protection Unit (EPU)
  • High Volume Pump (HVP)
  • High Volume Hose Layer (HVHL)

    • CBRN Response:

  • Incident Response Unit (IRU): H9

    • Incidents of note

  • 8 January 2005 - Carlisle and North Cumbria Floods, the worst flooding in living memory caused massive disruption and damage across the county. More than 3,000 properties were affected, 60,000 homes were without power and some areas of Carlisle were under 7 ft (2.1 m) of water.
  • 5 November 2006 - Over 100 firefighters from across South Cumbria fought a major fire which eventually destroyed two of Barrow's largest superstores (MFI and Allied Carpets).
  • 2 January 2008 - Dozens of firefighters fight a large blaze in Barrow's Matalan store, just next door to a construction site where MFI once stood.
  • December 2009 - Dozens of firefighters fight a large blaze in Penrith's Morrisons Supermarket, which resulted in a complete rebuild of the store.
  • 11 January 2017 - Over 50 firefighters fight a large blaze in the old House of Lords building connected to Bar Continental in Barrow-in-Furness, causing the building to at least partially collapse.

    • References

    Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA