Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service
Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service is the largest non-metropolitan fire and rescue service in England. It works to protect the 1.7 million people who live in Devon and Somerset. An additional 400,000 people visit the region every year.
The service aims to secure properties from damage of flood or fires, provide specialist animal rescue and respond to medical trauma on behalf of the South West Ambulance Service Trust.
Fire officers liaise with organisations to ensure that their buildings are adhering to fire safety legislation. They also visit homes and give safety advice and install smoke alarms.
The service also carries out school educational visits, road traffic collision educational programmes, youth inclusion programmes, arson reduction programmes and targeted home safety visits.
The service has 84 stations, the second largest number in England.
HMICFRS region and HMI
- His Majesty’s Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services (HMI): Roy Wilsher is temporary HMI for Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service
- HMICFRS region: The service is in HMICFRS’s Western fire region
HMICFRS’s role in inspecting this service
For over 160 years, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary independently assessed and reported on the efficiency and effectiveness of police forces and policing, in the public interest.
In summer 2017, HMIC (now HMICFRS) took on inspections of England’s fire & rescue services, assessing and reporting on their efficiency, effectiveness and leadership.
Recent news
- Fire and Rescue Services make progress to improve culture, but more must be done to tackle unacceptable behaviour
- Terms of reference: Home Secretary’s commission for a thematic inspection of the handling of misconduct in fire and rescue services
- Fire and Rescue Services improving – but more change urgently needed
- Chief Inspector: Fire and Rescue Services are improving, but more change is urgently required
- Letter from Sir Thomas Winsor: marauding terrorist attacks
Recent publications
- Standards of behaviour: The handling of misconduct in fire and rescue services
- Terms of reference: Home Secretary’s commission for a thematic inspection of the handling of misconduct in fire and rescue services
- Fire and Rescue Service inspections 2021/22 – Round 2, Tranche 2
- Effectiveness, efficiency and people 2021/22 – Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service
- State of Fire and Rescue – The Annual Assessment of Fire and Rescue Services in England 2021