Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service

Operational area
Country	UK
Country	England
Counties	Devon Somerset
Agency overview
Established	1 April 2007
Employees	1,850
Chief Fire Officer	Lee Howell
Facilities and equipment
Stations	83[1]
Engines	121[1]
Website
www.dsfire.gov.uk

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service (DSFRS) is the statutory fire and rescue service covering the county of Devon (including the unitary authorities of Plymouth and Torbay) and the non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England – an area of 3,924 square miles (10,160 km²).^[1] The service does not cover the unitary authorities of North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset, which are covered by the Avon Fire and Rescue Service. It serves a population of 1.75 million,^[1] and is the fifth largest fire and rescue service in the United Kingdom.^[2]

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service was founded on 1 April 2007, following the merger of Devon Fire and Rescue Service with Somerset Fire and Rescue Service.^[2] The Somerset service, previously known as Somerset Fire Brigade, was formed on 1 April 1948. Devon Fire Brigade was formed in 1973, by the amalgamation of Exeter City Brigade, Plymouth City Brigade and Devon County Brigade. It became Devon Fire and Rescue Service in 1987.

DSFRS main headquarters is located at Clyst St George near Exeter. Its main training centre is the Service Training Centre (STC) at Plympton fire station. It employs approximately 1,850 staff, including 578 wholetime firefighters and 36 control room staff, 930 retained firefighters and 300 non-uniformed staff.

Each county operated its own control room until 2012, but they now have a single control room at the main headquarters.

Fire stations[]

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The fire service operates 83 fire stations and 121 fire engines, the second largest number of fire stations in the country.^[1] The fire stations organised across six geographical groups – Barnstaple, Exeter, Plymouth, Taunton, Torquay and Yeovil.^[3] The fire stations are crewed on a mix of wholetime, wholetime and retained, and retained duty systems.^[4]

Nineteen DSFRS fire stations are home to fire service co-responders. Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service works in partnership with South Western Ambulance Service to provide emergency medical cover to areas of Devon and Somerset. These are areas that 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. Co-responder vehicles are equipped with oxygen and automatic external defibrillation (AED) equipment.^[5] Co-responder stations have a dedicated vehicle for co-responder calls. The vehicle, known as the emergency response unit (EMS), attends in place of the fire appliance (providing there are enough crew members still on duty), allowing the fire appliance to remain available.

Number	Name	Duty system	Group	Co-responder station
01	Barnstaple	Wholetime / Retained	Barnstaple
02	Ilfracombe	Retained	Barnstaple
03	Appledore	Retained	Barnstaple
04	Bideford	Retained	Barnstaple
05	Braunton	Retained	Barnstaple
06	Chulmleigh	Retained	Barnstaple
07	Combe Martin	Retained	Barnstaple	Yes
08	Hartland	Retained	Barnstaple	Yes
09	Hatherleigh	Retained	Barnstaple	Yes
10	Holsworthy	Retained	Barnstaple	Yes
11	Lynton	Retained	Taunton	Yes
12	North Tawton	Retained	Exeter
13	Okehampton	Retained	Barnstaple
14	South Molton	Retained	Barnstaple
15	Torrington	Retained	Barnstaple
16	Woolacombe	Retained	Barnstaple	Yes
17	Torquay	Wholetime / Retained	Torquay
18	Paignton	Wholetime / Retained	Torquay
19	Ashburton	Retained	Torquay
20	Bovey Tracey	Retained	Torquay
21	Brixham	Retained	Torquay
22	Buckfastleigh	Retained	Torquay
23	Chagford	Retained	Torquay
24	Dartmouth	Retained	Torquay
25	Dawlish	Retained	Torquay	Yes
26	Kingsbridge	Retained	Plymouth
27	Moretonhampstead	Retained	Torquay	Yes
28	Newton Abbot	Retained	Torquay
29	Salcombe	Retained	Plymouth
30	Teignmouth	Retained	Torquay
31	Totnes	Retained	Torquay
32	Exeter Danes Castle	Wholetime / Retained	Exeter
33	Exmouth	Wholetime / Retained	Exeter
34	Axminster	Retained	Yeovil	Yes
35	Bampton	Retained	Taunton
37	Colyton	Retained	Exeter
38	Crediton	Retained	Exeter	Yes
39	Cullompton	Retained	Exeter
40	Honiton	Retained	Exeter
41	Ottery St. Mary	Retained	Exeter
42	Seaton	Retained	Exeter	Yes
43	Sidmouth	Retained	Exeter
44	Tiverton	Retained	Taunton
45	Topsham	Retained	Exeter
46	Witheridge	Retained	Exeter
47	Plympton	Retained	Plymouth
48	Camels Head	Wholetime	Plymouth
49	Crownhill	Wholetime / Retained	Plymouth
50	Greenbank	Wholetime	Plymouth
51	Plymstock	Retained	Plymouth
52	Bere Alston	Retained	Plymouth
53	Ivybridge	Retained	Plymouth	Yes
54	Kingston	Volunteer	Plymouth
55	Modbury	Retained	Plymouth
56	Princetown	Retained	Plymouth	Yes
57	Tavistock	Retained	Plymouth
58	Yelverton	Retained	Plymouth
59	Exeter Middlemoor	Wholetime	Exeter
60	Clyst St George/HQ (USAR)	Wholetime	Exeter
61	Taunton	Wholetime / Retained	Taunton
62	Bridgwater	Wholetime / Retained	Taunton
63	Burnham-on-Sea	Retained	Taunton
64	Dulverton	Retained	Taunton	Yes
65	Glastonbury	Retained	Yeovil
66	Minehead	Retained	Taunton
67	Nether Stowey	Retained	Taunton	Yes
68	Porlock	Retained	Yes
69	Street	Retained	Yeovil
70	Wellington	Retained	Taunton
71	Williton	Retained	Taunton	Yes
72	Wiveliscombe	Retained	Taunton
73	Yeovil	Wholetime / Retained	Yeovil
74	Castle Cary	Retained	Yeovil
75	Chard	Retained	Yeovil
76	Cheddar	Retained	Yeovil	Yes
77	Crewkerne	Retained	Yeovil
78	Frome	Retained	Yeovil
79	Ilminster	Retained	Yeovil
80	Martock	Retained	Yeovil
81	Shepton Mallet	Retained	Yeovil
82	Somerton	Retained	Yeovil
83	Wells	Retained	Yeovil
84	Wincanton	Retained	Yeovil
85	Lundy Island	Volunteer	Barnstaple

Station grounds[]

HMNB Devonport[]

HMNB Devonport Dockyard, in Plymouth, is home to twenty one of the Royal Navy's fleet of ships and submarines.

The dockyard falls into the station ground of 48 Camels Head, and is backed up by 49 Crownhill. Each part of the dockyard is divided into risk areas; this then reflects in the level of attendance by the Fire Service.

Some parts of the dockyard are considered a very high risk and therefore attract a high attendance, sometimes as many as four pumping appliances and the aerial ladder platform are mobilised to a fire alarm actuating, in contrast to one pumping appliance to a town dwelling.

Hinkley Point[]

Hinkley Point is a headland on the coast of Somerset. It is the location of two nuclear power stations (Hinkley Point A, which closed in 2000, and Hinkley Point B). Hinkley Point B is the only active site. Hinkley Point has its own fire station, backed up by 67 Nether Stowey and would then be backed up by 62 Bridgwater. There is a planned new nuclear power station that will be Hinkley Point C.

Fire appliances[]

Devon and Somerset use a variety of front-line and special appliances. Operating from 84 fire stations, it has 121 fire engines and 64 special appliances, including aerial appliances, water/foam carriers, incident command units, 4x4s and environmental protection units.^[6]

The fireboat Vigiles is located in Plymouth and is used to protect the Royal Naval Dockyard, the oil storage facilities and the commercial shipping that uses the port. Its high speed also enables it to carry out a rescue role if required.

Due to the rural nature of Devon and Somerset, a number of vehicles are used that are capable of reaching incidents that occur on the commons, moors and heathlands of the region. These all carry specialised firefighting equipment designed for the purpose.

Cheddar and Dulverton each operate a Pinzgauer, a specially-built 6x6 vehicle. They are strategically located to tackle tough terrains in their respective locations.

The at Porlock and Nether Stowey are high-mobility firefighting appliances. They are transported on trailers to incidents that are difficult to access and operate usually in conjunction with the Pinzgauers and other off-road vehicles.

The service operates three incident response units (IRUs). They are positioned at Wellington, Okehampton fire station and Bovey Tracey fire station. Note, the IRU based at Wellington is not housed at the fire station, but at Chelston Business Park near Wellington. They are supplied by the Department for Communities and Local Government, to respond to incidents involving mass decontamination, defined as incidents where more than one person can be decontaminated simultaneously using the same equipment. Each IRU is maintained by a host station with assistance from support stations which all receive training on the equipment at regular periods throughout the year.

The service has an urban search and rescue team (USAR), one of 21 teams strategically located across England and Wales. They are equipped with five modules carrying various equipment to deal with a large range of incidents including structural collapse, large transport incidents, open area searches, heavy lifting operations and shoring. The Urban Search and Rescue is station 60 and based at the Service's main headquarters in Exeter.

British Red Cross Fire and Emergency Support Service[]

The British Red Cross Fire and Emergency Support Service (FESS) helps to meet the needs of individuals who have suffered damage to their homes following a domestic property fire, flood or similar emergency. Two units operating in Devon and Somerset based at the based Plymouth Red Cross Centre and Bridgwater Fire Station^[7] are dedicated volunteers. Their role includes providing refreshments, clothing, toiletries, use of an onboard telephone, first aid, sign-posting to other organisations, support with the care of children and pets, assistance in securing temporary accommodation, transport to friends/family, and use of shower/washing and toilet facilities.

Operations[]

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, DSFRS firefighters were trained to drive ambulances for South Western Ambulance Service as a relief measure should any ambulance staff fall sick to COVID-19.^[8] As of June 2020, they had attended 1,700 incidents.

As part of the national FiReControl project, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue's control rooms were due to switch over to a regional control centre in Taunton. Both control rooms were planned to cutover in May 2011,^[9] but the plan was formally scrapped in December 2010 by the Government.^[10]

Performance[]

In 2018/2019, every fire and rescue service in England and Wales was subjected to a statutory inspection by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HIMCFRS). The inspection investigated how well the service performs in each of three areas. On a scale of outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate, Devon and Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service was rated as follows:^[11]

HMICFRS Inspection Devon and Cornwall 2018/19

Area	Rating	Description
Effectiveness	Good	How effective is the fire and rescue service at keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks?
Efficiency	Requires Improvement	How efficient is the fire and rescue service at keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks?
People	Requires Improvement	How well does the fire and rescue service look after its people?

Mutual assistance[]

The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 gives fire services the power to assist other fire services or fire authorities in what is known as mutual assistance.^[12]

The fire services that adjoin the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service are:

• Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service
• Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service
• Avon Fire and Rescue Service
• Exeter International Airport Fire and Rescue Service

Children and young people[]

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service has a number of schemes for young people.^[13]

Fire Cadets is a programme open to young people between the ages of 12 to 16. Every week up to 14 Cadets attend their local fire station for two hours to take part in firefighter activities such as hose running, ladder climbs (SHACS), and search and rescue. The programme is currently only running from limited stations within Devon and Somerset. These are Exmouth, Frome, Ilfracombe, Plymouth, Tiverton and Wincanton.

Firebreak is a personal development scheme for Key Stage 4 pupils (ages 14–16). It provides a novel fire and rescue service themed educational diet designed to complement and enhance the school curriculum.

The Firesetter Intervention programme is designed to address firesetting behaviour amongst children and young people up to the age of 19.

Phoenix is a six-month programme, primarily designed to reduce fire risk and fire related crime within local communities by working with 'at-risk' young people between the ages of 15 and 18.

See also[]

• Fire service in the United Kingdom
• List of British firefighters killed in the line of duty

Other local emergency services[]

• Devon Air Ambulance Trust
• Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance
• Devon and Cornwall Constabulary
• South Western Ambulance Service
• Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service.

• Official website