| Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service | |
|---|---|
Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service area |
|
| Coverage | |
| Area | Suffolk |
| Operations | |
| HQ | Endeavour House, Ipswich. |
| Stations | 35 |
| Co-responder | No |
| Chief Fire Officer | Andy Fry |
| Deputy Chief Fire Officer | Mark Hardingham |
| Website | Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service |
| Fire authority | Suffolk Fire Authority |
Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service covering Suffolk in East Anglia, England.[1] It was formed in 1948 as the Suffolk & Ipswich Fire Service, before changing after the 1974 Local Government Review to 'Suffolk Fire Service'. Following the 2004 Fire & Rescue Services Act, the service name was changed to Suffolk Fire & Rescue Service to better reflect its role.
There are a total of 35 fire stations across Suffolk, four whole time, three day crewed and 28 On Call.[2] All whole time/day crewed stations also have a On Call section.
A PFI project has been undertaken to replace/refurbish fire stations within Suffolk.
New stations have been built at the following locations: Lowestoft South - six bay station on new site (Stradbroke Road) replacing Clifton Road RDS and Normanshurst WDS (Wholetime/On Call) North Lowestoft - one pump station on existing site Needham Market - one pump station on existing site Nayland - one pump station on existing site Hadleigh - one pump station on new site (Calais Street) Ipswich East - six bay station on new site (The Havens, Ransomes Europark) replacing Colchester Road WDS/On Call
In addition, certain stations have been refurbished, such as Haverhill, Bury St Edmunds, Felixstowe and Sudbury.
As part of this scheme, ancillary activities at Normanshurst and Colchester Road have moved. Workshops have moved to Phoenix House in West Ipswich with Suffolk CC Highways, whilst Control has been closed down (see below).
A new Training Centre has been built at Wattisham Flying Station for Service use, in a partnership with the Army. Facilities include a "hot fire" multi-level training complex, a section of railway track complete with level crossing and carriages supplied by Network Rail, a bus, and various RTC scenarios using HGVs and cars.
Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service publish incidents of media interest on their Facebook page. Fire Control update the incidents as they progress. In addition, safety messages, public meeting notifications and some photos can be found on the page. Go to SFRS Facebook page
As of October 25th, 2011, 999 calls to Suffolk Fire & Rescue Service are answered by a Combined Control run by Cambridgeshire F&RS. From this date, some Suffolk Control staff transferred to Cambridgeshire with all 999 calls being handled in Huntingdon rather than the previous site in Ipswich.
Following the introduction of Gallet F1 helmets in 2009, the Service has changed over to Cosalt PBI Gold firefighting kit in May 2011.
1948-1952 Francis Winteringham
1952- March 1974 Howard F. Griffiths
April 1974 - November 1981 Melville Willis
December 1981 - November 1991 Terry Miles
December 1991 - 1993 Tony Baker
1993-2004 Malcolm Alcock
2004-2009 Lee Howell
2009–present Andy Fry
Suffolk Fire & Rescue Service have a varied fleet of appliances serving the county.
Frontline pumping appliances are known as Rescue Water Ladders. These are all Volvo FL6 or FLL chassis with either Excalibur, Saxon Sanbec, John Dennis Coachworks or Emergency One bodywork.
Similar to Rescue Water Ladders, these appliances differ by not having a 135 ladder on the appliance.
Again similar to Rescue Water Ladders, these appliances carry extra RTC equipment and have less hoses. PRTs are stationed at Leiston, Newmarket, Stradbroke, Stowmarket, Sudbury and Haverhill. Any RTC in Suffolk has a Pre Determined Attendance of nearest RWL, a PRT and a ERT.
New in 2009, there are 3 ERTs within the county which respond to incidents in their own areas and support PRT's in their areas. At any LGV/PSV collision, two ERTs are dispatched. ERT's carry additional equipment to that of PRT's including extra 90 tonne cutters and other heavy duty equipment for use at LGV collisons. The three ERT's are stationed at Princes Street, Bury St Edmunds and Lowestoft South. These are all Volvo FLLs with JDC bodywork.
Suffolk have two Turntable Ladders, based at Headquarters and Bury St Edmunds. Both are on Mercedes chassis with one Metz and one Magirus ladder. Bury's TTL is due to be replaced by a Combined Arial Rescue Pump (CARP).
There are 3 Water Carriers within the county, based at Leiston, Newmarket and Sudbury. Leiston and Sudbury's appliances are Mercedes vehicles bought from Dairy Crest, whilst Newmarket's is a 1994 Volvo with a Crossland Tankers body built in 2006.
For command and control, Suffolk have Command Support Vehicles. Based at Woodbridge (Vauxhall Movano), Beccles (Fiat Ducato) and Ixworth (Citroen Relay). These vehicles attend incidents of 4 pumps or more, or on request of the Incident Commander.
A single Operational Support Unit covers Suffolk, being based at Headquarters. The vehicle is a Volvo FL6 with James Newell curtainside bodywork and a Moffatt Mounty forklift attached to the rear. The OSU carries a variety of equipment such as salvage structures, foam stocks, chemical spill packs - all palletted to be removed/replaced by the fork lift. A similar vehicle was based at Haverhill until July 2011 when it moved to Headquarters for use as a Bulk Foam OSU (Callsign 0Foxtrot).
There are 3 Water Rescue Units based on Vauxhall Movano vans. These are based at Princes Street, Bury St Edmunds and Lowestoft South. Two WRU's normally respond to water based incidents. An exception to this is when attending animal rescues. In this case, they attend with a fire appliance and/or a Unimog. WRU's can also be used for incidents involving mud etc. as crews wear drysuits which makes decontamination easier.
Suffolk bought 3 Mercedes Unimog vehicles in 1994 to provide off-road capability for the county. They also used to tow the Service's two fireboats. Two remain in service one each at Bury and Normanshurst. The third was written off in service by a mishap in Felixstowe.
Suffolk have an Incident Response Unit plus the Derobe/Rerobe modules and Prime Movers as part of the New Dimensions programme. One of the Enhanced Command Support vehicles is due to be allocated to Suffolk.
Suffolk are one of a number of Fire & Rescue Services around the country which respond to maritime incidents. Suffolk often use RAF Sea King helicopters from RAF Wattisham to respond to ships in distress. Suffolk cover a wide area of coastline from Norfolk to Essex, boundaring with Lincolnshire MIRG to the north and Kent MIRG to the South.
Firefighting in Suffolk, Saward G., Lavenham Press, 1998
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