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Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service

Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service area
Coverage
Area	Tyne and Wear
Size	540 sq. kilometres
Population	1.08 million
Operations
Formed	1974
HQ	Barmstomn Mere, Washington
Staff
Stations	17
Chief Fire Officer	Richard Bull
Website	Tyne and Wear FRS
Fire Authority	Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Authority.

Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, formerly Tyne and Wear Metropolitan Fire Brigade is the statutory fire and rescue service which covers the area of Tyne and Wear, England, providing emergency fire cover to a population of 1.08 million people and a geographical area of 540 square kilometres, Its Chief Fire Officer is Richard Bull; its motto is 'Creating the safest community'.^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Overview 3 Fire stations 4 Dennis/Volvo fire appliances 5 Community fire stations 6 Changes to the fire service 7 References 8 See also 9 External links

Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service was formed in 1974, however it had been a requirement, since the passing of the Fire Brigades Act 1938 for local authorities to provide fire cover.^[2] Previously fire cover was provided by a number of smaller services^[3] In 2004 under the ^[4] the name of the fire and rescue service's name was changed from Tyne and Wear Metropolitan Fire Brigade to Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, to reflect changes in local authority structure. There have been many fire-related incidents including the great fire of Gateshead. The FRS works closely with Northumbria Police in order to promote community issues.

The Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service serves over one million people in Sunderland, Newcastle and Tyneside^[5]. The service responded to 24,025 incidents in the period 2004 to 2005, which consisted of 13,060 fires, 8495 false alarms and 2470 special service calls. Of its 15 wholetime, one part-wholetime/part-retained, and one retained fire stations, the FRS operates 48 frontline fire appliances consisting of:

• 31 pumping appliances
• 3 aerial appliances
• 2 emergency tenders
• 7 prime movers
• 1 command support unit
• 1 Rescue tender
• 1 fire boat
• 1 incident response unit
• 1 Operational support unit

There are currently seventeen fire stations in operation with the FRS. The following table contains information about them:

Community fire station	Community facilities	Location	No. of fire appliances	Status	Call sign
Birtley	Yes	Durham road	2	Wholetime and retained	Whiskey
Chopwell	Yes	Derwent Street	1	Retained	Zulu
Colby Court	Yes	Elswick road	3	Wholetime	Charlie
Fossway	Yes	Union road	4	Wholetime	Foxtrot
Fulwell	Yes	Station road	2	Wholetime	Mike
Gateshead	Yes	Dryden road	4	Wholetime	Victor
Gosforth	No, (future plans)	Jubilee road	2	Wholetime	Echo
Hebburn	Yes	Victoria road west	3	Wholetime	Tango
Northmoor	Yes	Northmoor road	2	Wholetime	Quebec
Rainton Bridge	Yes	Mercantile road	2 (1 ambulance)	Wholetime	Hotel
South Shields	Yes	John Reid road	2	Wholetime	Kilo
Sunderland Central	Yes	Railway row	5	Wholetime	November
Swalwell	Yes	Miller Lane	3	Wholetime	Yankee
Tynemouth	Yes	Preston North Road	4 (1 ambulance)	Wholetime	Juliet
Wallsend	Yes	Hadrian Road	2	Wholetime	Golf
Washington	Yes	Glover indutrial estate	3	Wholetime	Sierra
West Denton	Yes	West Denton Way	3 (inc. 1 command support unit)	Wholetime	Alpha[6]

Originally TWFRS Dennis Specialist Vehicles, efficient for fire service use. Over time the service depended less on Dennis appliances and more on Volvo. In recent years it has begun to use more Dennis appliances and it is currently a variation of Volvo and Dennis appliances. Five new Dennis vehicles are on order which are due to be delivered in the Spring of 2007.^{[citation needed]}

The intention of community fire stations is to use them as meeting places to discuss fire related issues, as well as offer facilities for local citizens to receive fire safety information if should they require it. Another aim of the community fire stations was to "Provide the community with the highest standards of fire safety and firefighting services available"^[7]

Over the next few years the service will be buying new fire appliances and building several new fire stations. There are currently plans to replace two community fire stations, including those at Tynemouth and Fulwell.^{[citation needed]} The service has currently received another four New Dimension Prime Movers, along with the existing three based at Sunderland Central for urban search and rescue. The emergency tender based at Sunderland Central Fire Station will end its service in March 2007 and will be replaced by a Rescue Tender Pod. A high volume pump pod is also on order for the Service.

• Fire service in the United Kingdom
• Fire apparatus
• Fire station
• FiReControl

• Official Site of Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service
• Official Site of the FIRE KILLS: YOU CAN PREVENT IT! Campaign
• Unofficial Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service Website
• Fire Gateway Website, Fire Safety Information and Fire Service locater