Avon Fire and Rescue Service
| Operational area | |
|---|---|
| Country |  England |
| Region | Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire |
| Agency overview | |
| Established | 1974 |
| Employees | 930 |
| Chief Fire Officer | Kevin Pearson |
| Facilities and equipment | |
| Stations | 21 |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
Avon Fire & Rescue Service (AF&RS) is the fire and rescue service covering the unitary authorities of Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire in South West England.
Contents
History
Avon Fire Brigade was created in 1974, when Avon county was created. In 1996, the county was abolished and four separate unitary authorities were created. Administration of the service was taken over by a joint fire authority made up of councillors from the four unitary authorities. In 2004, the Fire And Rescue Services Act was passed. To better reflect the changing roles and responsibilities of the fire service, Avon Fire Brigade changed its name to Avon Fire & Rescue Service.[1]
Community Safety
The role of a modern fire and rescue service has increased from fighting fires to cover the core functions of 'Protecting, Preventing and Responding'. Avon Fire & Rescue Service now has a wider remit promoting community safety through events and education work, alongside attending a range of incidents and emergencies from road traffic collisions and fires, to flooding and chemical spills. The fire service aims to cut the risk of fire developing in the first place by promoting safety messages to local residents and encouraging people to have working smoke alarms.[2]
Avon Fire & Rescue Service runs community safety campaigns. The summer 2009 campaign, 'Be BBQ Safe', included a hard hitting interview with a BBQ fire burns victim who spent the previous summer in intensive care after using nitro to light his BBQ.
The Car Clear scheme was launched in 2001, with the intention of promptly removing abandoned vehicles from streets. This eliminates the possibility of arson attacks.[3][4]
Operations
Avon Fire & Rescue Service has a fleet of 79 appliances including 49 Pumping Appliances [16 Water Tender Ladders, 16 Water Tenders, 11 reserve Pumps, four Rescue Pumps and two Combined Aerial Rescue Pumps], eight New Dimension appliances [six Prime Movers, one Detection Identification Monitoring Van and one Incident Response Unit], three Turntable Ladders [with a fourth on order], two Rescue Tenders [one reserve], and 16 other Special appliances. 28 Trailers, Boats, Pods and Fork Lift Trucks are used operationally. Avon Fire & Rescue Service also utilise a fleet of ancillary vehicles. These include 42 cars, 18 vans, five 4x4s, four MPVs, three PCVs, one Control Emergency Evacuation Vehicle and one Fire & Emergency Support Service vehicle. 19 Trailers are also used non-operationally.
As part of the now-defunct FiReControl project, Avon Fire & Rescue's control room was intended switch over to the regional control centre in Taunton. Originally scheduled to take place in May 2010, the cutover date was revised to November 2011,[5] before the plan was formally scrapped in December 2010.[6]
On 1 January 2009, Yate Fire Station was upgraded to wholetime / retained status meaning that firefighters are ready to respond to calls 24/7. Previously, the station was day crewed / retained, which meant that the station was only crewed from 0800–1700. Outside this time, firefighters responded to the station from their homes or work places.
In 2009, Avon took delivery of the first Polybilt bodied Combined Aerial Rescue Platform (CARP). It was allocated to Patchway fire station [7] but has since moved to Speedwell fire station.[8] A second Combined Aerial Rescue Pump is now with Avon at Bedminster fire station and went into service in February 2011.
On 6 May 2014, Kingswood Fire Station was closed to allow for a station refurbishment. It is due to be completed towards the end of 2014, when Speedwell Fire Station will close and all crew will move back to Kingswood. [9]
On 10 February 2015, Kingswood Fire Station reopened, and Speedwell Fire Station was closed. [10]
On 1 November 2015, Keynsham Fire Station will close as part of the Investing for the Future programme. A new station is due to open in Spring 2016, at Hicks Gate.
Fire Stations/Appliances
| Station Callsign | Station Name | Duty System | Appliances |
|---|---|---|---|
| A02 | Thornbury | Retained | 1x WrL, 1x WrT |
| A03 | Yate | Wholetime/Retained | 1x WrL, 1x WrT, 1x PM+SFoU |
| A04 | Patchway | Wholetime | 1x WrL, 1x DIM |
| A05 | Avonmouth | Wholetime | 1x RP, 1x WrT, 1x RT, 1x RailRU, 1x WelU |
| A06 | Southmead | Wholetime | 1x WrL, 1x L4V+HLTr |
| A07 | Portishead | Retained | 1x WrL, 1x WrT |
| A08 | Pill | Retained | 1x WrT |
| A09 | Temple | Wholetime | 1x RP, 1x WrT, 1x TL, 1x LiRU, 1x BASU |
| A10 | Kingswood | Wholetime | 1x WrL, 1x WrT, 1x CSU, 1x CU |
| A12 | Bath | Wholetime/Retained | 1x RP, 1x WrL, 1x WrT, 1x TL, 1x AWrRU, 1x WrSU+IRB |
| A14 | Brislington | Wholetime | 1x WrL, 1x ERU, 1x PM+SFoU+MSU |
| A15 | Bedminster | Wholetime | 1x WrL, 1x CARP, 1x AWRrU, 1x SWrR+IRB+RB+ARRSTr |
| A16 | Nailsea | Retained | 1x WrL, 1x WrT |
| A16 | Urban Search & Rescue | Day Crewing/Retained | 5x PM, 4x USAR pods, 1x HLU pod, 1x HVPU pod, 1x HVPUA pod, 1x SFoU pod 1x PCV, 1x MPV |
| A17 | Clevedon | Retained | 1x WrL, 1x WrT |
| A18 | Weston-Super-Mare | Wholetime/Retained | 1x RP, 1x WrL, 1x WrT, 1x TL, 1x ATRU+Hcft, 1x IRU, 1x PM+MDD+USAR |
| A19 | Yatton | Retained | 1x WrL |
| A20 | Chew Magna | Retained | 1x WrT |
| A21 | Radstock | Retained | 1x WrL |
| A22 | Paulton | Retained | 1x WrT |
| A23 | Blagdon | Retained | 1x WrL |
| A24 | Winscombe | Retained | 1x WrT |
Fire Appliance Glossary/Callsigns
Vehicles:
- Turntable Ladder (TL): A2
- Water Safety Unit (WrSU): B1
- Swift Water Rescue (SWrR): B1
- All Terrain Rescue Unit (ATRU): B2
- Command Support Unit (CSU): C1
- Command Unit (CU): C2
- Environmental Response Unit (ERU): H1
- Detection, Identification & Monitoring Van (DIM): H8
- Incident Response Unit (IRU): H9
- Water Tender Ladder (WrL): P1 & P2
- Rescue Pump (RP): P3
- Water Tender (WrT): P4
- Combined Aerial Rescue Pump (CARP): P6
- Rescue Tender (RT): R1
- Animal & Water Rescue Unit (AWrRU): R3
- Line Rescue Unit (LiRU): R5
- Welfare Unit (WelU): S0
- Breathing Apparatus Support Unit (BASU): S1
- Rail Rescue Unit (RailRU): S4
- Prime Mover + Specialist Foam Unit/Major Salvage Unit Pod (PM+SFoU+MSU): S4
- Prime Mover (PM): T1, T2, T4, T5, T6
- Personnel Carrying Vehicle (PCV): T7
- Multi Purpose Vehicle (MPV): T8
- Light Four-Wheeled-Drive Vehicle + Hose Layer Trailer (L4V+HLTr): W2
- Fire & Emergency Support Service (FESS): RX1
Pods:
- Mass Decontamination Disrobe (MDD): N591
- USAR Module 1: N791
- USAR Module 2: N762
- USAR Module 3: N773
- USAR Module 4: N764
- USAR Module 5: N755
- High Volume Pumping Unit (HVPU): N981
- Hose Laying Pod (HLU): N991
See also
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.avonfire.gov.uk/avon/your+safety
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.swfirecontrol.co.uk/whatisfirecontrol.asp
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.polybilteurope.com/news/view/102
- ↑ http://www.avonfire.gov.uk/avon/all-areas/940-investing-for-the-future
- ↑ http://www.avonfire.gov.uk/all-areas/1200-kingswood-fire-station-closes-temporarily-for
- ↑ http://www.avonfire.gov.uk/south-gloucestershire-news/1412-newly-refurbished-kingswood-fire-station-reopens
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Avon Fire and Rescue Service. |
