West Midlands Fire Service

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West Midlands Fire Service (W.M.F.S)
West Midlands Fire Service (W.M.F.S)
West Midlands Fire Service (W.M.F.S) area
Coverage
Area West Midlands (county)
Size 902 km2 (348 sq mi)
Population 2,619,500
Operations
Formed 1974
HQ Birmingham
Stations 39
Co-responder No
Chief Fire Officer Vij Randeniya
Deputy Chief Fire Officer Vacant (no acting Deputy Chief Officer in post)
Website www.wmfs.net
Fire authority West Midlands Fire & Rescue Authority

West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) is the statutory fire and rescue service responsible for fire protection, prevention, intervention and emergency rescue in the county of the West Midlands in England.

The West Midlands Fire Service functions under the control of the "West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority", which is a joint-authority, made up of councillors from the seven local authorities in the West Midlands.[1]

The service was created in 1974 when the West Midlands county came into being. Prior to its creation, each of the county boroughs in the West Midlands area (Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Solihull, Walsall, Warley, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton) had their own fire brigade. The largest of these brigades was the City of Birmingham Fire Brigade. The WMFS was created by a merger of these, plus parts of Warwickshire Fire Brigade, and is now the second largest and one of the best-performing fire and rescue teams in the UK.[2]

The service was originally headquartered in the former City of Birmingham Fire Brigade headquarters at Lancaster Circus which were opened on 2 December 1935 by HRH Duke of Kent. It is now a Listed building. However, the service moved to purpose built, modern headquarters on Vauxhall Road, Nechells, with the move commencing in July 2008 (and being completed by the end of November).

Contents

[edit] Organisation

Bickenhill Community Fire Station, near to the National Exhibition Centre

The brigade is run under the command of the Chief Fire Officer Vij Randeniya and the Corporate Board, and provides emergency response from 39 strategically located fire stations, divided into eight Command Areas.[3]

Six of the Command Areas are coterminous with the Metropolitan boroughs of the West Midlands county; Birmingham however is divided into two commands. The full list of Command Areas is as follows:

[edit] Chief Fire Officers

The following people have held the office of Chief Fire Officer:

  • George Merrell CBE 1974–1975 (Chief Officer of Birmingham Fire and Ambulance Service from 1969)[4]
  • Tom Lister 1975–1981
  • Brian Fuller 1981–1990 (Appointed Commandant of the Fire Service College, Moreton-in-Marsh in September 1990)[5]
  • Graham Meldrum 1990–1998[6] (Went on to become HerMajesty's Chief Inspector of Fire Services)
  • Kenneth Knight 1998–2003[6] (Appointed Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade in July 2003)[7]
  • Frank Sheehan 2003–2008[7][8]
  • Vijith Randeniya OBE 2009–date[9]

[edit] Fire Stations

A cast-iron Birmingham Corporation fire-hydrant cover, from the time when the City Council was responsible for both the local fire service and water supply

The fire service has 39 fire stations, all of which are full-time.[10]

The former fire station at Lancaster Circus was home to the longest fireman's pole in Europe at 40 feet (12 m) in length.[11]

[edit] Fire appliances

West Midlands Fire Service operates over 60 front line fire engines,[12] mainly of the Dennis Sabre type. The service also operates a number of specialist appliances compromising several hydraulic platforms with up to a 29 metre reach, three specialised command support vehicles equipped with extensive communication and control facilities and now a brand new ISIS remote controlled drone. As well as these, there a number of specialised demountable pods for various roles (Water rescue unit, Environmental Unit, etc.) that are located around at five stations around the county and transported to incidents on the back of a heavy duty prime mover.

The government's New Dimension programme has equipped the brigade with three Incident Response Units, two High Volume Pumping Units, one Detection Identification and Monitoring vehicle along with the Urban Search and Rescue vehicles.

Following the cease of fire appliance chassis manufacture in 2007, Dennis can no longer supply Sabres to the brigade, prompting the decision to find a new chassis for new appliances. The Volvo FLL 15 chassis was chosen as a suitable replacement for the Dennis Sabre.[13]

[edit] Technical Rescue Unit (Urban Search and Rescue)

The West Midland's Technical Rescue Unit is one of the best in the country. Located at Bickenhill fire station, the Technical Rescue Unit operates both the USAR pods and vehicles provided by the government, along with several other vehicles specially purchased by the brigade itself. The unit also boasts a brand new urban search and rescue training rig as well as offering rope and water rescue training, making it the second best USAR training centre in the county (the best being the extensive facilities at the Fire Service College).

12 members of the West Midlands team were deployed as part of the UKISAR (United Kingdom International Search And Rescue) mission to Haiti in the wake of the earthquake there on January 12, 2010.[14] The team were joined by 2 further members who had been in Sweden as part of a training exercise at the time of the earthquake. The team were involved in the rescue of several people, including two-year old Mia, who had been trapped for over four days.[15]

[edit] Notable Incidents

Shannons Mill, Walsall - 2007 - 25 Pump fire. 3 Storey, listed, former leather tanning workshop.

Cornwall Road, Smethwick - 2009 - 25 Pump Fire, 2 Large Factories fully involved in fire.

Disused Factory, Thimblemill Lane, Nechells - June 1985 - 30 Pump Fire, five-storey factory building destroyed.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Fire Authority
  2. ^ http://www.wmfs.net/Our_Performance
  3. ^ http://www.wmfs.net/Your_Fire_Service/Command_Areas/ - Note map on site has not been changed but Command Areas have
  4. ^ "Hail to the Chief". Birmingham Post: p. 22. 7 August 2002. 
  5. ^ "Appointments". The Times. 20 August 1990. 
  6. ^ a b "Woman saved in fire drama; Kenneth new fire chief for region.". Birmingham Evening Mail: p. 4. 31 January 1998. 
  7. ^ a b "Meet chief fireman Frank". Birmingham Post: p. 4. 12 August 2003. 
  8. ^ "'Surprise' as firefighters' chief resigns.". Birmingham Mail: p. 3. 19 November 2008. 
  9. ^ "Hard work is key, says new WM fire chief". Birmingham Mail: p. 11. 20 March 2009. 
  10. ^ Command Areas - fire stations listed per area
  11. ^ "Station bosses ban fireman pole amid health and safety fears". Mail Online. 2006-08-04. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-399093/Station-bosses-ban-fireman-pole-amid-health-safety-fears.html. Retrieved 2008-12-22. 
  12. ^ Firefighting and Rescue - From official site.
  13. ^ [1] Official WMFS report to Solihull Council. See section 9 of the report.
  14. ^ http://www.wmfs.net/Media/Press+Releases/Press+Release/?contentId=102638 - Fire Service Press release
  15. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/haiti/7006378/British-rescue-teams-pull-three-survivors-including-Mia-two-from-the-rubble.html - Telegraph Article accessed 17th Feb

[edit] External links

England

Scotland

Wales

Northern Ireland
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