Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service

Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service
Operational area
CountryEngland
CountyNorthamptonshire
AddressDarby Close, Park Farm Industrial Estate, Wellingborough, NN8 6GS
Agency overview
Annual calls13,174 (2017-18)[1]
CommissionerDanielle Stone
Chief Fire OfficerNikki Watson
Facilities and equipment
Stations22
Website
www.northantsfire.gov.uk Edit this at Wikidata

The Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS) is a fire and rescue service covering the county of Northamptonshire, United Kingdom. NFRS covers an area of 948 square miles (2,460 km2) area with a population of around 750,000.[2]

History

Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service was founded in 1974 when the former Northamptonshire Fire Brigade and Northampton Borough Fire Brigade (both formed in 1948 by the Fire Services Act 1947) merged.

In April 2021, Moulton Logistics Centre closed down, leaving Moulton Fire Station and the service's workshops behind. The new headquarters for the service is now shared with Northamptonshire Police, at a new site in Wellingborough.

Organisation

Since 2019, the fire service has been overseen by the Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.[3] It was previous overseen by Northamptonshire County Council.

NFRS has 22 fire stations,[4][2] with 28 fire engines,[2] a headquarters in Wellingborough, and an administration hub in Kettering which is shared with Northamptonshire Police.[5] Its firefighters are split 62% wholetime and 38% retained (on-call).[2]

Performance

In November 2018, an inspection of NFRS by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) found that the service was routinely operating below the safe number of fire engines needing to cover the county. It also found that firefighter training records were incomplete and the service could not assure itself that they all had the necessary safety-critical skills.[6] Three follow-up visits by HMICFRS in 2019 and 2020, allowed them to announce in March 2021 that they were satisfied with NFRS progress.[6]

Every fire and rescue service in England and Wales is periodically subjected to a statutory inspection by HMICFRS. The inspections investigate how well the service performs in each of three areas. On a scale of outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate, Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service was rated as follows:

HMICFRS Inspection Northamptonshire
Area Rating 2018/19[7] Rating 2021/22[8] Description
Effectiveness Requires improvement Good How effective is the fire and rescue service at keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks?
Efficiency Requires improvement Good How efficient is the fire and rescue service at keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks?
People Requires improvement Requires improvement How well does the fire and rescue service look after its people?

See also

References

  1. ^ "Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service - Northamptonshire County Council". Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d "Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service". HMICFRS. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  3. ^ "Inside | Office of Northamptonshire Police and Crime Commissioner". Office of Northamptonshire Police and Crime Commissioner. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  4. ^ "Fire stations". Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  5. ^ "Take a look around new police base near Kettering". Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  6. ^ a b "Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service causes of concern revisit". HMICFRS. 19 March 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  7. ^ "Northamptonshire 2018/19". Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). 20 June 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  8. ^ "Northamptonshire 2021/22". Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). 27 July 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2023.