CFO's Welcome
Welcome from Chief Fire Officer Mark Yates
On behalf of all the employees and partner agencies of Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service may I welcome you to our website. We are proud to provide, on behalf of the Fire Authority, fire fighting, rescue and community safety services to the communities of Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
In my 26 years working for fire and rescue services I have seen many changes to what we do and indeed how we do it. We are no longer purely a reactive service that deals with fires and road traffic accidents; we now attend water rescues, rescues from height and depth, chemical incidents as well as contributing to the UK’s national resilience through our Service hosting a variety of nationally provided specialist vehicles. But did you know that we also do so much more? We provide many community safety projects working predominantly with the young and vulnerable as well as ensuring all public buildings and workplaces have adequate fire precautions to keep people safe in the event that a fire does occur. We believe that prevention is better than cure and we work tirelessly to prevent fires and other emergencies from happening but there will always be a need for a well trained, well equipped fire fighting and rescue force.
From the above you’ll not be surprised that our number one aim is to make Herefordshire and Worcestershire safer from fire and other hazards and to improve community well-being. But we also need to remember that on occasions the women and men, who staff our 27 fire stations, do a very dangerous job so it is also our primary aim to ensure they have the best equipment and training that we can provide. I am committed to providing a first class fire and rescue service with first class staff at the communities’ disposal.
Following the Audit Commission’s recent inspection the Service is now rated as ‘performing well’ and is one of England’s highest performing fire and rescue services; testament to the dedication of our staff, whether on the frontline or providing the vital support services that enables the Service to function. The Audit Commission’s report also confirmed that fires, fire deaths and injuries have been reducing at a rapid rate and last year the two counties recorded the lowest number of fires ever.
This website has a huge amount of information and I hope that you find it both informative and useful but we don’t rest on our laurels so please feel free to contact us at info@hwfire.org.uk if you have any comments or need to seek further information.
