Skip to content

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service is in the North East of England. It serves an area that includes Darlington, Derwentside, Durham, Easington, Wear and Tees.

Durham city and the larger industrial and commercial towns are in the east of the area. The west is predominantly rural, consisting of open moorland and wooded river valleys, and is sparsely populated.

The service responds to emergencies such as fire, flooding, road traffic collisions, animal rescue and missing persons searches. It also works in the community, carrying out home fire safety checks and visits to schools to inform people about potential dangers.

The service also runs cadet schemes at several stations in the area.

Connect with County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service

HMICFRS region and HMI

  • His Majesty’s Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services (HMI): Michelle Skeer is HMI for Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service
  • HMICFRS region: The service is in HMICFRS’s Northern 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.

Key facts – 2022/2023

Service Area

938 square miles

Population

0.64m million people people
up2% local 5 yr change

Workforce (FTE)

70% wholetime firefighters
30% on-call firefighters
0.66 per 1000 population local
0.54 national level
down8% local 5 yr change
down4% national 5 yr change

Assets

15 stations
26 fire engines

Incidents

11.4 fire incidents per 1000 population local
10.4 national
2.0 non-fire incidents per 1000 population local
3.5 national
4.0 fire false alarms per 1000 population local
4.3 national

Cost

£32.63 firefighter cost per person per year
£26.96 firefighter cost per person per year (national)