West Midlands Fire Service

Infobox UK Fire and Rescue
name= West Midlands Fire Service
area= West Midlands county
start= 1974
population= 2,591,300
size= 902 km²
staff=
Chief Fire Officer= {Frank Sheehan QFSMMIFireE}
stations= 41
HQ= Birmingham
FA= West Midlands Fire & Rescue Authority Chief Fire Officer : Frank Sheehan QFSM MIFireE





web= [http://www.wmfs.net/ West Midlands Fire Service]

The West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) is the statutory fire and rescue service responsible for fire protection, prevention, intervention and emergency rescue in the West Midlands county in England.

The West Midlands Fire Service functions under the control of the "West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority" which is a joint-authority, made up of councillors from the seven local authorities in the West Midlands [ [http://www.wmfs.net/Your_Fire_Service/Fire_Authority/ Fire Authority : West Midlands Fire Service] ] .

The service was created in 1974 when the West Midlands county came into being. Prior to its creation, each of the county boroughs in the West Midlands area (Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Solihull, Walsall, Warley, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton) had their own fire brigade [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_Fire_Brigades_of_the_United_Kingdom] . The largest of which was the City of Birmingham Fire Brigade. The WMFS was created by a merger of these, plus parts of Warwickshire Fire Brigade.

The service was originally headquartered in the former "City of Birmingham Fire Brigade" headquarters at Lancaster Circus which were opened on December 2, 1935 by the Duke of Kent. It is now a listed building. However, the service moved to a purpose built, modern headquarters on Vauxhall Road, Duddeston, at the end of July 2008.

Organisation

The brigade is run under the command of the Chief Fire Officer (Currently Frank Sheehan QFSM MIfireE) and the Corporate Board, and provides emergency response from 41 strategically located fire stations, divided into nine Command Areas:

Six of the Command Areas are coterminous with the Metropolitan boroughs of the West Midlands county; Birmingham however is divided into three commands.

These are:

*Birmingham Central
*Birmingham North
*Birmingham South
*Coventry
*Dudley
*Sandwell
*Solihull
*Walsall
*Wolverhampton

Fire stations

The fire service has 40 fire stations. of which are all full time [ [http://www.wmfs.net/Your_Fire_Service/Command_Areas/ Command Areas - fire stations listed per area] ]

*Aldridge
*Aston
*Bickenhill
*Billesley
*Bilston
*Binley
*Bloxwich
*Bournbrook
*Brierley Hill
*Canley
*Coventry
*Cradley Heath
*Dudley
*Erdington
*Fallings Park
*Foleshill
*Halesowen
*Handsworth
*Hay Mills
*Highgate
*Kings Norton
*Ladywood
*Northfield
*Oldbury
*Perry Barr
*Sheldon
*Smethwick
*Solihull
*Stourbridge
*Sutton Coldfield
*Tettenhall
*Tipton
*Walsall
*Ward End
*Wednesbury
*West Bromwich
*Willenhall
*Wolverhampton
*Woodgate

Fire appliances

West Midlands Fire Service operates over 60 front line fire engines, [ [http://www.wmfs.net/Your_Fire_Service/Emergency_Response/Firefighting+and+Rescue/ Firefighting and Rescue] - From official site.] mainly of the Dennis Sabre type. The service also operate a number of specialist aplliances such as hydraulic platforms.

References

See also

* Fire service in the United Kingdom
* West Midlands Police
* West Midlands Ambulance Service

External links

* [http://www.wmfs.net/ West Midlands Fire Service's website]