Country England Established 1974 (1974) Chief Fire Officer Nick Borrill | County Lincolnshire Employees 900 Stations 38 | |
Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue (LFR) is the statutory fire and rescue service serving the non-metropolitan county of Lincolnshire in the East Midlands Region of the UK. This does not include North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire, which are in the Yorkshire and the Humber Region, covered by Humberside Fire and Rescue.
Contents
- Personnel
- History
- Fire StationsAppliances
- Fire Appliance Glossary
- Co Responder Joint Ambulance Conveyance Project
- References
Lincolnshire is a large mainly rural county, with LFR coming under the authority of Lincolnshire County Council. Lincoln is the only City within the county, as well as large towns such as Grantham, Boston, Skegness, Spalding and Gainsborough. The rest of the counties inhabitants are spread over other medium-sized towns and villages, linked by rural roads that have one of the highest RTC (Road Traffic Collision) rates in the United Kingdom.
East Coast Flooding is one of the main risks to the county, seen in the 2013 east coast tidal surge. The town of Boston and surrounding areas of southern Lincolnshire and Norfolk were affected.
Personnel
The service employs approximately 900 firefighters and staff, with around 250 full-time firefighters. The county's 38 fire stations are allocated to one of three Divisions (East, West and South). The majority of Lincolnshire is covered by retained duty staff (RDS), who attend on a call-out basis. The retained staff are supported by full-time firefighters (wholetime) based at 9 different stations around the county. They also offer specialist skills and equipment, such as rope/high-line rescue, water rescue, animal rescues etc. Lincolnshire firefighters have supported rescue efforts nationally, such as in the floods of 2007 and most recently the Berkshire flooding in 2014 and Cumbria/North Yorkshire floods of 2015. The headquarters are based on South Park Avenue (A15) in the City of Lincoln, with its Waddington Training Facility located to the south of the city using a former part of the RAF Waddington site.
History
Prior to 1974, when Lincolnshire was administratively three separate counties, there were three fire brigades for the geographic county, covering Kesteven, Holland and Lindsey, with Lindsey being the biggest, which formed in 1948. Grimsby had its own Grimsby Borough Fire Brigade. After 1974, much of the Lindsey Fire Brigade with Grimsby became part of Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, and still is today. Prior to 1974, this would have covered two large oil refineries at Immingham and other large fire risks - indeed the Flixborough disaster in June 1974, the largest civilian explosion in the UK, took place soon after the separation of counties in the new Humberside area, although the Lincolnshire Fire Service, in nearby Gainsborough, would have been called for assistance.
Fire Stations/Appliances
Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue has 38 Fire Stations:
Currently there are 2 wholetime stations in Lincoln which work a 24/7 shift system. Each Station has 4 Watches (Red,Blue,Green,White) that work 2 days - 2 nights - 4 Rest days. The other 7 wholetime stations work the 'Lincolnshire Crewing System'. Each station has 2 Watches (Blue & Green) which work 4 days then 4 rest days. The days they are on duty they provide wholetime night cover from purpose built living accommodation that is within close proximity to the station.
Each wholetime station in Lincolnshire also has an RDS attachment that crew the second appliances and support the WDS staff.
Fire Appliance Glossary
Urban Search & Rescue (USAR):
Pods:
Co-Responder / Joint Ambulance Conveyance Project
Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service works in partnership with the East Midlands Ambulance Service(EMAS) to provide emergency medical cover to select areas of Lincolnshire. Currently, 11 areas have been identified as having a greater need for ambulance cover. The aim of a co-responder team is to preserve life until the arrival of either a Rapid Response Vehicle (RRV) or an ambulance.
Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue are the first Fire and Rescue Service in the United Kingdom to operate actual 'Fire Ambulances'. Three ambulances where trialed at Stamford, Woodhall Spa and Long Sutton fire stations. They were used to transport the patient to hospital care, assisting EMAS with freeing up ambulance crews and allowing the patient to reach hospital care sooner than waiting for EMAS transport.
Co-Responder Vehicles and Ambulances are equipped with: