Independent Review of the Fire Service

Last updated

The Independent Review of the Fire Service, sometimes referred to as the Bain Report or IRFS was a wide-ranging report carried out by Professor Sir George Bain, in 2002, at the request of the government, into the how Fire and Rescue Services were operated and managed; and about the working conditions of firefighters in the UK. When the report was completed, its full title was The Future of the Fire Service: reducing risk, saving lives - The Independent Review of the Fire Service , [1] although it is generally known by the shortened name (including the online version). On publication, its authors said the report: "sets out our recommendations for how the service should change in the future to meet the demands of the twenty-first century." [2] The report prompted a prolonged period of industrial action in the UK by firefighters, the first national strike since 1977. The Bain report made several recommendations, that led to wide ranging changes in the approach to fire and rescue authorities (FRS) in the UK. It was controversial because of its extensive scope, and in 2006, many changes to UK FRS continue as a direct result of it.

Contents

Report authors

The review consisted of three members, chaired by Bain. Their credentials are described below, when the report was published in 2002. The IRFS took three months to complete, the first firefighter strikes were in November, just before the IRFS was published.

Scope of the IRFS

Implications of the IRFS

The IRFS had the effect of changing firefighters pay and conditions, and created a massive structural change to the fire service in the UK. [3] It prompted a white paper [4] that led to a change in the primary legislation for the operation of FRS. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

The 2002–2003 UK firefighter dispute was a period of nationwide strike action which began when the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) voted to strike in an attempt to secure better salaries. The FBU demanded a 39 percent increase in pay, which would have brought the average firefighter's wage to around £30,000. It balloted its members for a strike in late 2002 and the industrial action began in November. It was the first nationwide firefighters' strike in the UK since 1977. The strike was led by FBU General Secretary Andy Gilchrist.

Matt Wrack

Matthew D. Wrack is a British trade unionist and former firefighter. He was elected General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) in May 2005.

London Fire Brigade Fire and Rescue service in London

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the fire and rescue service for London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865, under the leadership of superintendent Eyre Massey Shaw. It has 5,992 staff, including 5,096 operational firefighters and officers based at 102 fire stations.

Sir George Sayers Bain is a British-Canadian academic. He was President and Vice-Chancellor of Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2004.

Surrey Fire and Rescue Service

The Surrey Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service for the County of Surrey, England, with 25 fire stations. It comes under the administrative and legislative control of Surrey County Council, acting as the Fire Authority who fund the service by collecting a precept via council tax, and from central government funds, known as a grant settlement, and provide the political leadership for the service.

Chief fire officer (CFO), formerly often just chief officer, is the highest rank in the fire and rescue services of the United Kingdom. There are currently 50 chief fire officers serving in the United Kingdom in charge of the local authority fire services. There is also a chief fire officer responsible for the Ministry of Defence Fire Services, which includes the Defence Fire and Rescue Service and the RAF Fire Service. Some UK airport fire services also designate their seniors officers as CFOs, though these officers rarely wear the same rank insignia as a local authority chief fire officer.

As firefighting has a rich history throughout the world, traditions in this profession vary widely from country to country.

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service Firefighter organization in Merseyside

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service covering the county of Merseyside in north-west England and is the statutory Fire and Rescue Authority responsible for all 999 fire brigade calls in Sefton, Knowsley, St. Helens, Liverpool and Wirral.

FiReControl was a project, initiated in the United Kingdom in March 2004, to reduce the number of control rooms used to handle emergency calls for fire services and authorities. Presently there are 46 control rooms in England that handle calls from the local public for emergency assistance via the 999 system. A new radio network – FireLink – is being developed and built that will be compatible with FiReControl.

Fire services in the United Kingdom British fire and rescue services

The fire services in the United Kingdom operate under separate legislative and administrative arrangements in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.

Avon Fire and Rescue Service Fire and rescue service in South West England

Avon Fire & Rescue Service (AF&RS) is the fire and rescue service covering the unitary authorities of Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire in South West England.

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service Fire and rescue service in Bedfordshire, East of England

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service is the fire and rescue service for the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire in England, consisting of the unitary authorities of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, and Luton.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service Statutory fire and rescue service

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service covering the seven districts of administrative county of North Yorkshire: Craven, Harrogate, Hambleton, Richmondshire, Ryedale, Scarborough, Selby; as well as the unitary authority of City of York. The service covers an area of 3,209 square miles (8,310 km2) and serves a population of 830,000. It is divided into eight groups related to the above districts.

The title and job role of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services in England, Scotland and Wales is combined with that known as Fire and Rescue Adviser appointed by the devolved and national governments of the United Kingdom.

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a retained firefighter, also known as an RDS Firefighter or on-call firefighter, is a firefighter who does not work on a fire station full-time but is paid to spend long periods of time on call to respond to emergencies through the Retained Duty System. Many have full-time jobs outside of the fire service. Retained firefighters are employed and trained by the local fire and rescue service.

Ken Knight Former London Fire Commissioner

Sir Kenneth John Knight, is a retired British firefighter and public servant. From 2003 to 2007, he was the Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade and Commissioner for the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. From 2007 to 2013, he was the Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser for England.

New Dimension programme Fire and rescue service in the UK

The New Dimension programme, sometimes referred to as the New Dimension or New Dimensions, was started by the Department for Communities and Local Government in the UK, for fire and rescue services in England and Wales, following the 2001 terror attacks. It has provided equipment, training and standardised procedures to deal with terrorist attacks and major environmental disasters. By July 2004, the New Dimensions programme had provided £56 million to various projects; a further £132 million was promised for the period up to 2007. It operates at a national, regional and local level, and while it does not apply specifically to Scotland, a Fire and Rescue Service circular, published in 2007 noted that: "Officials in the Welsh Assembly Government and the Scottish Executive agree in principle that the general terms of the Mutual Aid Protocol should apply 'cross-border' between Scotland, England ." New Dimension provides a co-ordinated approach across the emergency services, and local authority emergency planners and it has been supported and promoted by the Chief Fire Officers Association.

Ronald James Dobson, CBE, QFSM, FIFireE is a retired senior British firefighter. He was the Chief Fire Officer of the London Fire Brigade until 31 December 2016.

The 2018 Tathra bushfire was a bushfire that burned between 18 and 19 March 2018 and primarily affected parts of the South Coast region in the Australian state of New South Wales. The fire, understood to have been caused by a failure in electrical infrastructure, began in the locality of Reedy Swamp, near Tarraganda, which spread east towards Tathra in the municipality of the Bega Valley Shire.

Martin Blunden is a British firefighter. He is the Chief Officer of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.