Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service is the fire and rescue service for the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire in England, including the unitary authorities of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, and Luton.

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service
Operational area
CountryEngland
CountyBedfordshire
Agency overview
Established1 April 1997 (1997-04-01)
Employees600
Facilities and equipment
Stations14
Website
www.bedsfire.gov.uk

Bedfordshire Fire Brigade was recreated in 1947 after the disbanding of the National Fire Service. Luton began operating an independent brigade when it became a county borough in 1964. In 1974, the Luton brigade was re-absorbed into Bedfordshire, which was renamed Bedfordshire Fire Service. It was later renamed to Bedfordshire & Luton Fire and Rescue Service in 1997,[1] on the same day that Luton became a unitary authority. This reflected that Luton was no longer in the administrative county of Bedfordshire, though Luton remained in the ceremonial county. The brigade changed to its current name in 2012, three years after the administrative county was abolished and divided into two unitary authorities.[2]

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service currently employ more than 550 staff on a variety of conditions of service. These include Firefighters on the Wholetime shift system; Firefighters on the Retained Duty System; Fire Officers on the Flexible Duty System; Fire Control Operators and support staff.

The county's control room was due to move into a regional control centre in Cambridge in 2011 as part of the FiReControl project.[3]

The control room was kept within the service and has now been confirmed as the first fire service in the UK to be implementing a cloud based mobilising solution and integrated CAD system by Motorola in mid 2021. [4]

The firefighters currently working at the county's five wholetime stations are the first in the country to work 24-hour shifts.

Fire stations and appliances

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service operates 14 fire stations, of which five are crewed on 24-hour shifts (wholetime), one day crewed (Monday–Friday, 09:00–17:00) and the remainder are crewed by retained firefighters who live near to their fire station and can arrive there within five minutes of a call-out.[5]

Station Callsign Station Name Duty System Appliances
FGB01AmpthillRetained1x RP, 1x RWT
FGB02BedfordWholetime/Retained/Cross Crewed*2x RP, 1x AP, 1x WRU+RBt*, 1x PM + OSU Pod
FGB03BiggleswadeRetained1x RP, 1x RWT
FGB04DunstableWholetime/Cross Crewed*2x RP, 1x TRU* 1 x TSU*
FGB05HarroldRetained1x RP, 1x MRV
FGB06KempstonWholetime/Retained2x RP, 1x WrC, 1x SRU
FGB07Leighton BuzzardDay Crewed/Retained2x RP, 1x ICU*
FGB08LutonWholetime2x RP, 1x AP
FGB09PottonRetained1x RP, 1x OSU*, Drone*
FGB10SandyRetained1x RP, 1x MRV
FGB11SheffordRetained1x RP, 1x MRV
FGB12StopsleyWholetime/Cross Crewed*1x RP, 1x RSU, 1x PM+HMSU* Pod, 1x MDU* Pod
FGB13ToddingtonRetained1x RP, 1x RWT, 1x WrC
FGB14WoburnRetained1x RP, 1x MRV

Fire appliance glossary / callsigns
  • Rescue Pump (RP): P1/P2
  • Rural Water Tender (RWT): P3
  • Operational Support Unit (OSU): S2
  • Prime Mover + Hazardous Materials Support Unit (PM+HMSU): H4
  • Rescue Support Unit (RSU): R5
  • Specialist Rescue Unit (SRU): R5
  • Technical Support Unit (TSU): S5
  • Technical Rescue Unit (TRU): R5
  • Multi Role Vehicle (MRV): 6M
  • Aerial Ladder Platform (ALP): A7
  • Water Carrier (WrC): W8
  • Water Rescue Unit + Inshore Rescue Boat (WRU+IRBT): B9
  • Incident Command Unit (ICU): C1

CBRN Response:

  • Prime Mover + Mass Decontamination Unit (MDU): H1
  • Bedford fire station
  • Harrold fire station
  • A typical Bedfordshire fire engine
  • A fire engine drawing water from the River Great Ouse in Bedford
  • Map showing locations of fire stations in Bedfordshire
  • One of Bedfordshire's ALPs & New Appliances
  • Two Appliances Responding From Stopsley Station
  • Bedfordshire's Fire Bikes
  • A Bedfordshire Rural Water Tender
  • Bedfordshire's Incident Command Unit

See also

References
  1. "The Bedfordshire Fire Services (Combination Scheme) Order 1996". The National Archives. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  2. "Bedfordshire Fire Services (Combination Scheme) (Variation) Order 2012". The National Archives. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  3. "East of England - Fire and resilience". Department for Communities and Local Government. Archived from the original on 29 September 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
  4. "Bedfordshire Fire & Rescue Service Pioneers Cloud-Based Control Room Solutions from Motorola Solutions | Motorola Solutions". newsroom.motorolasolutions.com. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  5. "About Us". Bedfordshire and Luton Fire and Rescue Service. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
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