Country England Employees 242 Stations 10 | County Isle of Wight Chief Fire Officer Steve Apter | |
Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service covering the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England.
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In March 2007, the Isle of Wight Council voted to maintain the independence of the Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue service, instead of a merger with the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Later in February 2009, plans were announced for a three-year £8 million replacement programme changing part-time stations to full-time. The move would be done in an attempt to reduce response times to 999 alerts. It could see Ryde's fire station change to full-time, and possibly Sandown's, but part-time stations would continue to operate as normal in rural areas. The extra investment would also minimise chances of a future merger with the rest of Hampshire.
On a recent assessment by a government watchdog, the service was found to be performing well, getting a three star rating out of four. This has been part of steady improvements in recent years after the 2006 when the service was judged as two-star. In 2005 the service was one of the few in the country to be rated as poor by the commission.
Fire Stations/Appliances
The Isle of Wight has a total of ten fire stations, one wholetime/retained, one day crew/retained and eight solely retained.