Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service is the fire and rescue service for the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire in England, including the unitary authorities of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, and Luton.
Bedfordshire Fire Brigade was recreated in 1947 after the disbanding of the National Fire Service. Luton began operating an independent brigade when it became a county borough in 1964. In 1974, the Luton brigade was re-absorbed into Bedfordshire, which was renamed Bedfordshire Fire Service. It was later renamed to Bedfordshire & Luton Fire and Rescue Service in 1997, on the same day that Luton became a unitary authority. This reflected that Luton was no longer in the administrative county of Bedfordshire, though Luton remained in the ceremonial county. The brigade changed to its current name in 2012, three years after the administrative county was abolished and divided into two unitary authorities.
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service currently employ more than 550 staff on a variety of conditions of service. These include Firefighters on the Wholetime shift system; Firefighters on the Retained Duty System; Fire Officers on the Flexible Duty System; Fire Control Operators and support staff.
The county's control room was due to move into a regional control centre in Cambridge in 2011 as part of the FiReControl project.
The firefighters currently working at the county's five wholetime stations are the first in the country to work 24-hour shifts.
Fire Stations/Appliances
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service operates 14 fire stations, of which five are crewed on 24-hour shifts, one day crewed and the remainder are crewed by retained firefighters who live near to their fire station and can arrive there within five minutes of a call-out.Station Callsign | Station Name | Duty System | Appliances |
FGB01 | Ampthill | Retained | 1x RP, 1x RWT |
FGB02 | Bedford | Wholetime/Retained/Cross Crewed* | 2x RP, 1x ALP, 1x WRU+IRBt*, 1x OSU*, 1x PM+MDR*, 1x PM+MDD* |
FGB03 | Biggleswade | Retained | 1x RP, 1x RWT |
FGB04 | Dunstable | Wholetime/Cross Crewed* | 2x RP, 1x TRU* |
FGB05 | Harrold | Retained | 1x RP, 1x MRV |
FGB06 | Kempston | Wholetime/Retained/Cross Crewed* | 2x RP, 1x WrC, 1x SRU* |
FGB07 | Leighton Buzzard | Day Crewed/Cross Crewed* | 2x RP, 1x ICU* |
FGB08 | Luton | Wholetime | 2x RP, 1x ALP |
FGB09 | Potton | Retained/Cross Crewed* | 1x RP, 1x ISU* |
FGB10 | Sandy | Retained | 1x RP, 1x MRV |
FGB11 | Shefford | Retained | 1x RP, 1x MRV |
FGB12 | Stopsley | Wholetime/Cross Crewed* | 1x RP, 1x RSU*, 1x PM+HMSU*, 1x MDU* |
FGB13 | Toddington | Retained | 1x RP, 1x RWT, 1x WrC, 1x MRV |
FGB14 | Woburn | Retained | 1x RP, 1x MRV |
Fire Appliance Glossary/Callsigns
- Rescue Pump : P1/P2
- Rural Water Tender : P3
- Incident Support Unit : 4
- Operational Support Unit : 4
- Prime Mover + Hazardous Materials Support Unit : H4
- Rescue Support Unit : R5
- Specialist Rescue Unit : R5
- Technical Rescue Unit : R5
- Multi Role Vehicle : 6M
- Aerial Ladder Platform : A7
- Water Carrier : W8
- Water Rescue Unit + Inshore Rescue Boat : B9
- Incident Command Unit : C30
- Prime Mover + Mass Decontamination Rerobe : 95
- Prime Mover + Mass Decontamination Disrobe : 96
- Prime Mover + Mass Decontamination Unit : 99
Gallery