Kent Fire and Rescue Service

Kent Fire and Rescue Service

Operational area
Country	England
County	Kent
Agency overview
Employees	2,000
Facilities and equipment
Stations	57
Engines	75
Website
www.kent.fire-uk.org

Kent Fire and Rescue Serviceis thestatutoryfire and rescue servicefor the administrativecountyofKentand the unitary authority area ofMedway,covering a geographical area south-east ofLondon,to the coast and including major shipping routes via theThamesandMedwayrivers. The total coastline covered is 225 km (140 miles); it has 57fire stations,and four districtfire safetyoffices. The FRS provides emergency cover to a population of 1.88million.

The county’s Fire and Rescue Service borders theLondon Fire Brigadeto the north-west of the county,Surreyto the west,East Sussexto the south-west, andEssexto the north.

Performance

Every fire and rescue service inEngland and Walesis periodically subjected to a statutory inspection byHis Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services(HMICFRS). The inspections investigate how well the service performs in each of three areas. On a scale of outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate, Kent Fire and Rescue Service was rated as follows:

HMICFRS Inspection Kent

Area	Rating 2018/19	Rating 2021/22	Description
Effectiveness	Good	Good	How effective is the fire and rescue service at keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks?
Efficiency	Good	Outstanding	How efficient is the fire and rescue service at keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks?
People	Good	Good	How well does the fire and rescue service look after its people?

History

The first fire brigade appeared inKentin 1802, when the Kent Fire Office formed aninsurancebrigade inDeptford(which was at the time part of Kent). In the same year, and completely separately frominsurancecompanies,Hythebecame the first town inKentto set up its own fire brigade, followed byAshfordin 1826.

By the 20th century, it was quite fashionable for local authorities to have their own fire brigades.Maidstonehad seen the formation of its borough fire brigade in 1901, when the Royal Insurance Company provided a newShand Masonhorse-drawn steam fire engine, named The Queen. This company had taken over the Kent Fire Office in the same year, simultaneously disbanding their own brigade. Things often became very competitive between individual town and village brigades, in many instances, each one trying to outdo its neighbour. In 1910,Bromleybecame the first town in Kent to house motorisedfire engines,with two newMerryweathervehicles being stationed there.

Until 1938, the provision of a fire brigade was a discretionary power, and naturally there were a few local authorities that regarded it as an unnecessary expense. However, due to the threat of war,Parliamentenacted theFire Brigades Act 1938(1 & 2 Geo. 6.c. 72) and made it a duty and so created over 1,600 individual fire authorities across the nation. It was these local brigades and theAuxiliary Fire Service– also formed in 1938 – that valiantly coped with the consequences of theBattle of Britainand much ofThe Blitz.In August 1941, local brigades and theAFSwere absorbed into one organisation called TheNational Fire Service.It was in 1941 that the current Headquarters houseThe Godlandswas requisitioned for war-time use by theNational Fire Serviceand it has remained with thefire serviceever since.

World War IIbrought dark days indeed forKentfire-fighters.Fire-fightinghas been and will probably always be a dangerous occupation, and theRoll of Honour 1899-1990,details the deaths of Kent fire-fighters while on duty. Of the 122 'Kent' names listed, 15 were pre-1939, 16 were post-1939 and 91 died during World War II. Nationally, well over 1,000 fire-fighters died during World War II, with stories offire stationsand the water supplies needed for fire-fighting being targeted by Germanbombers,to maximise the damage caused byincendiary bombs.The last death on duty of a Kent fire-fighter was in 1990.

Thefire servicewas returned to local authority control on 1 April 1948 under theFire Services Act 1947,with responsibility inEnglandandWalesbeing given to the 146 counties and county boroughs of the day. The County of Kent and the City and County Borough ofCanterburycombined to form Kent Fire Brigade, taking over 79 fire stations from the National Fire Service.

Subsequent local government reorganisations have had their effect upon the brigade, most significantly in 1965 when eight fire stations in the northwest of the county were transferred to the newly createdGreater Londonarea. Further reorganisation in 1974 sawCanterburylose its county borough status and the fire brigade became the exclusive responsibility ofKent County Council.In 1998, the structure of local government changed again andKentcombined with the newMedway Towns unitary authorityfor fire brigade provision.

On 1 October 2003, Kent Fire Brigade was renamed Kent Fire and Rescue Service to better reflect the requirements demanded of it for many years. These changes were reflected nationally by the enactment of theFire and Rescue Services Act 2004which came into effect on 1 October 2004.

In the spring of 2011, Kent Fire and Rescue underwent changes to its structure, these included restructuring from three divisions to fivearea groups: North Kent, East Kent, West Kent, South Kent and Mid Kent. Each group consists of a number of clusters, which are made up of a number of certain stations where resources are locally managed. The Letter prefix for each division was dropped in the station call sign, for instance Swanley, under the old system was named as Station S31 the S standing for South Division, now it is just Station 31.

On January 1, 2017, Kent Fire & Rescue Service ceased Watches and changed to Flexible rostering with every station. This meant all members of staff had to work a 'Contractual number of shifts over the course of eachcalendaryear'.

Fire station crewing

Clockwise from top left: Some of the service's fire stations inAshford,Folkestone,CanterburyandMaidstone

Kent Fire & Rescue Service's fire stations are crewed using a number of different duty systems:

• Wholetime – fire appliances are crewed by full-timefirefighters24/7. Flexible Rostering system.
• "On-call" –retained firefightersare summoned by electronic pager and respond from their usual jobs or from home when required. All retained (and day-crewed) firefighters must live or work within five minutes of the fire station.
• Day-crewed – these fire appliances, and any attached special appliances are crewed as wholetime appliances during the daytime and crewed as ‘on-call’ appliances at night by the same firefighters. Any second fire engine based there will be entirely staffed as retained on-call.
• Cross-crewing – a cost-cutting measure where multiple fire appliances are staffed by the same crew. This means when one appliance responds any others in the scheme are unavailable.

The service works in partnership with theSouth East Coast Ambulance Serviceto provide emergency medical cover to select areas of Kent. Dymchurch, Eastchurch, Eastry, Hoo and Paddock Wood have been identified as having a greater need for ambulance cover. The aim of afire service co-responderteam is to preserve life until the arrival of either a Rapid Response Vehicle (RRV) or an Ambulance. Co-responder Vehicles are equipped with:

• Defibrillator
• Bag and mask resuscitator
• Oxygen
• Airways suction units
• Standard first aid equipment

See also

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

External links

• Official website
• Kent Fire and Rescue ServiceatHMICFRS