Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service serves a population of around 707,000 (mid-year projection for 2007) in the South East of England. The area is tall and narrow, stretching from the outskirts of London towards the Midlands. It comprises the four districts of Buckinghamshire – Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern, South Bucks and Wycombe – and the borough of Milton Keynes which, until local government reorganisation in 1997, was also a district of Buckinghamshire.
Milton Keynes is the northernmost part of the area, bordering the East of England and the East Midlands. It is one of the fastest-growing places in England. Since 1971, its population has more than trebled from 67,000 to around 221,000. During the same period, the population of the rest of Buckinghamshire has risen from 404,000 to around 483,000.
Government plans for housing in the region could see more than 100,000 new homes built in Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes over the next 30 years or so, with most of this development taking place in Milton Keynes and neighbouring Aylesbury Vale. The urban infrastructure will have to be expanded to cope with this growth and there will clearly be an increase in demand for fire safety education, community safety partnership working and emergency response.
The major centres of population are the designated New City area of Milton Keynes, which occupies much of the south of the borough (172,033 in the 2001 Census), High Wycombe (77,178), Aylesbury (69,021), Chesham (20,343) and Amersham (17,719).
The area served by Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service includes stretches of the M1, M25, M4 and M40 motorways, a section of the West Coast Main Line, several miles of the River Thames, part of the Silverstone motor racing circuit and Chequers, the Prime Minister’s country residence. Heathrow, Luton and Cranfield airports lie just outside the area routinely served by us.
A large part of the south of Buckinghamshire falls within the Metropolitan Green Belt and the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Although many parts of Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes enjoy the affluence associated with the Home Counties, there are pockets of deprivation in all four districts and the borough of Milton Keynes.
Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service receives around 21,000 calls for assistance every year, of which about 10,000 are emergency incidents. It has 42 frontline and specialist fire and rescue vehicles and two specialised Search and Rescue (SAR) vehicles.
The Chief Fire Officer is Damian Smith, who is supported by three Principal Officers – Clare Hedger, Deputy Chief Officer; Andy Hickmott, Assistant Chief Fire Officer Operations; and Des Williamson, Assistant Chief Fire Officer Risk.
Some 550 firefighters operate from Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service’s 20 strategically-placed fire stations – six wholetime, four day-crewed and 10 retained. Fire safety offices are strategically located at Broughton (covering Milton Keynes), Aylesbury (covering Aylesbury Vale and Chiltern Districts) and Marlow (covering Wycombe and South Bucks Districts).
An interim regional Search & Rescue facility opened in Beaconsfield (South Bucks) in November last year and a plan to move it to a new site on the outskirts of the town is currently in the pipeline. The Search and Rescue capability is part of the Government’s New Dimensions programme which is made up of a series of projects that will greatly enhance the resilience and security of our communities.
The community safety team has four members at headquarters in Aylesbury and four district-based managers who work in partnership with local statutory and voluntary organisations.
Around 90 people work in a variety of support services including teams in arson prevention, risk assessment, workshops, finance, human resources and corporate planning. The emergency control centre employs 22 people who work in shifts. These specialist teams are responsible for the receipt of all emergency calls.
The service is overseen by Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Fire Authority, whose membership is drawn from Buckinghamshire County Council (12 members) and Milton Keynes Council (five members). It has an annual budget of around £24 million.
The Chairman, Cllr David Rowlands, works with the 16 other elected members who are committed to the development and modernisation of the service. Nine members have lead responsibility for specific areas of work including partnership working, community safety, training, information technology, property and equality.
Fighting fires is only part of the work of the present day fire service. Releasing people trapped in vehicles after road accidents and dealing with chemical spills make up an increasing proportion of our work.
Changing political and environmental conditions mean that we need to be ready to tackle major incidents such as terrorist attacks, serious transport accidents and natural disasters.