Welcome to our official website.
Please watch our More than Firefighting video here.
Welcome to the website of Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service which delivers Fire & Rescue services on behalf of the Fire Authority for the whole of Devon & Somerset (including Torbay and Plymouth).
As the Chief Fire Officer, I am proud to be at the helm of the largest non Metropolitan Fire & Rescue Service in the country. We have 85 fire stations, the second largest number in England and 2,300 committed staff who are dedicated to making the two Counties of Devon and Somerset even safer. The Fire Authority has approved a budget of £75m for 2010/11 to allow us to deliver safety services to the 1.7m people who live here plus the additional 400,000 people who come to visit us each year.
You will know that the Fire & Rescue Service puts out fires, rescues people from road traffic accidents and other emergencies. However, you may not know that Devon & Somerset also: work with partners to influence young drivers to try and prevent people being killed or injured on our roads, engage young people in diversionary activities to reduce anti social behaviour and crime as well as rescuing people from water and height. We also have the largest number of fire appliances outside of London equipped to deal with the after effects of terrorism such as major flooding, major transportation incidents, public decontamination and collapsed structures; working within a national coordinated approach to attend incidents anywhere in the country.
We are reducing the number of operational incidents we attend through our prevention work and this will continue to be our priority, but when our services are needed, you can be assured that we aim to deliver the very best service we can to make you safe wherever you are in Devon & Somerset.
I hope you find what you are looking for on these pages, but if not, please contact us and we will ensure you get an appropriate response quickly and effectively.
Lee Howell - Chief Fire Officer - June 2010.