AND WHAT THEY DO.

About us.

We provide emergency and protection services to the communities of Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. We are committed to providing a safer place for people to live, work and visit across an area of 134,753 hectares and a population of over one million.

While fire fighting has traditionally been at the forefront of our work, the role of a modern fire and rescue service has increased to cover the core functions of 'preventing', 'protecting' and 'responding'.

What we do.
Arson Reduction Team The Arson Reduction Team is a joint initiative between ourselves and Avon & Somerset Police to drive down levels of deliberately started fires. Community Safety Centres Community Safety Centres are a free resource we provide, offering safety advice, internet access and meeting facilities to the community. Fire hydrants Fire hydrants play an important role in protecting our community. In the event of a fire they give fire-fighters access to the mains water supply, so it's important that they remain accessible at all times. Home Fire Safety Visits We visit the homes of the most vulnerable people in our community to help them stay safe from fire. Safety advice resources The majority of fires in the home can be avoided by some really small changes to lifestyle. We provide lots of advice and information about how you can keep you and your loved ones safe. School visits We work with young people in our area to make sure our next generation grow up safe from the dangers of fire.

Legislation and what has changed?

The name has changed for the fire serves, it was the fire brigade but now its fire and rescue, because they have changed the name it means they work on different stuff than just fires, the work on saving cats out of trees, saving people from cars and from houses that are not even on fire.

This is some of the latest incidents. Incident Date: 13 June 2012 A MOTHER has given a stark warning about the dangers of leaving matches and lighters around the house after her six-year-old son started a fire which destroyed their home.

Incident Date: 29 April 2012 A MAISONETTE was devastated after a woman fell asleep and a lit candle set fire to her bedroom while she was sleeping.
Incident Date: 11 April 2012 A WOMAN suffered smoke inhalation after she accidentally lit a chip pan in the middle of the night in Stockport. Incident Date: 09 April 2012 FIREFIGHTERS saved the lives of two dogs after a serious fire at a house in Wythenshawe.

The history of the fire service.

Legislation for the provision of fire fighting in England and Wales dates back to 1865 when the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act was passed, taking the responsibility of fire fighting away from insurance companies. However the legal requirement for local authority fire brigades came about with the passing of the Fire Brigades Act 1938 - at the time there were about 1,600 brigades throughout the UK. During the Second World War the many local authority fire brigades had been merged to form a single National Fire Service. After the war, in 1948, under the Fire Services Act 1947, fire services were restored to local authority as before, but (in England and Wales) to the county councils and county boroughs rather than the smaller areas that had previously existed. The number of fire brigades was subsequently reduced again by mergers in 1974/1975 and in 1986. In Scotland the brigades from 1948-1975 covered generally groups of counties and were Angus, Central, Fife, Glasgow, North Eastern, Perth and Kinross, South Eastern, South Western, and Western; the areas largely continuing the administrative arrangements of the war-time National Fire Service in Scotland.