Country England Chief Fire Officer Dave Curry | County Hampshire Stations 51 | |
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Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS) is the statutory fire and rescue service for the county of Hampshire, on the south coast of England. The service's chief fire officer is Dave Curry.
Contents
History
The Service was formed on 4 April 1948 as a result of the Fire Services Act 1947.
Previously all local authorities were duty-bound to make provision for firefighting under the Fire Brigades Act 1938. Many meetings and discussions were held prior to the service's creation in 1948 by the Hampshire fire service committees, to discuss who would be appointed the role of chief fire officer and how the service would be structured.
With ongoing expansion, the service was under increasing pressure to open a service HQ. The FRS was originally hoping to use and acquire North Hill House in Winchester for usage as the headquarters — a building still desired by the Admiralty at the time and therefore the service was not allowed to buy it. In May 1948; the admiralty gave up the premises and allowed the service to operate it. However twenty years later in 1968, the service HQ moved to a floor of Ashburton Court, The Castle, Winchester as well as the control room.
In 1997, Hampshire County Council lost control of the FRS, transferring responsibility to the newly formed Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority.
At the close of 2015, Chief Constable Andy Marsh and more than 100 Hampshire Constabulary staff moved into the fire headquarters in Eastleigh, creating the first shared police and fire headquarters in the country. As well co-location of senior staff from both services, several support functions such as Human Resources, IT and Equipment Stores are now being shared from the Leigh Road site.
Fire Stations/Appliances
Appliances in bold are temporary allocations whilst the rebuild of Basingstoke fire station is taking place. The Intermediate Capability appliances (LRP) will remain at their allocated stations for the duration of their 12-month trial. The First Response Capability appliances (FRV) will move between stations every three months throughout their 11-month trial.
Fire Appliance Glossary/Callsigns
CBRN Response:
Urban Search & Rescue (USAR):
Pods:
Co-Responder and Immediate Emergency Care
Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service works in partnership with the South Central Ambulance Service to provide emergency medical cover to select areas of Hampshire. Currently, 21 areas have been identified as having a greater need for ambulance cover. Annually, the service attends over 13,000 medical emergencies supporting the ambulance service. The aim of a co-responder is to preserve life until the arrival of either a Rapid Response Vehicle (RRV) or an ambulance. Co-Responder Vehicles are single manned by a specially trained firefighter, who will take the vehicle to his or her workplace/home and will respond from there when alerted to an incident via pager. Each vehicle is equipped with:
In addition to co-responding, the service has also rolled out the Immediate Emergency Care (IEC) program which has resulted in all front line fire appliances being equipped with more advanced medical equipment. This includes a defibrillator, Entonox and patient monitoring equipment. As of October 2016, all appliances and front line crews had received the IEC training and equipment.
Future - Risk Review
Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service is facing a potential £16m gap in Government funding by 2020. In order to face this dramatic cut in funding, a comprehensive risk review of the service has been undertaken to find more efficient and cost effective ways to provide fire and rescue services to the people of Hampshire. Following a public consultation in Autumn 2015, the final proposals confirmed that none of the 51 fire stations in Hampshire will close and there will be no compulsory redundancies. However, all fire stations will have a drop in the number of operational firefighters and a number of fire stations will have different crewing systems to match the community risk profile of each station area.
The second major change affects response vehicles; the current system has at least one standard fire appliance (with approximately similar equipment fits) at each fire station, irrespective of the typical incidents and equipment used at incidents on each station ground. The Risk Review aims to match vehicle capability and disposition to the prevailing local risk by introducing three different types of response capability based on risk parameters. Each fire station will hence have vehicles deemed appropriate for the incidents they are likely to face. The three response capabilities are:
This will be a much smaller vehicle than a traditional fire engine whilst retaining significant capability. They will be able to get to incidents quicker due to their small size and will be suitably equipped to deal with the majority of incidents types in the local area unsupported. Some will have 4 wheel drive to improve access to rural incidents. They will be fitted with the latest technology, including a Ultra High Pressure Lance (UHPL), to allow firefighters to attack fires with greater safety. It will also carry RTC cutting gear, enhanced medical equipment and breathing apparatus, along with a selection of other fire and rescue equipment. Most crucially, it can be mobilised with a crew of between two and four depending on the type of incident. This means that retained stations with a reduced number of available firefighters can still respond to certain low-risk incidents with a smaller crew. For the initial trial, two vehicles (one 4x2 and one 4x4) will be at certain stations for three months each to assess their capabilities. These stations are Alton, Hightown, Brockenhurst (4x4), Winchester, Gosport (4x4) and Kingsclere.
This will be slightly smaller than a traditional fire engine, making it more agile and faster in rural areas and compact city streets. They will carry the same equipment as the First Response Vehicles along with a greater water carrying capacity, larger ladders and additional rescue equipment, as well as the UHPL. They will have the same medical equipment as the other vehicle types in order to provide vital emergency medical care in the community. Again, the number of firefighters on board (between two and five) will depend upon the severity of the incident and other resources will be sent to support them if necessary. The first five trial vehicles are based at Southsea, St Mary's, Basingstoke, Rushmoor and Whitchurch.
This will be very similar to the current Rescue Pump with a crew of between four and six. They will have a full range of heavy rescue equipment, a large pump and water carrying capacity as well as a specialist foam capability suitable for all types of fires.