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.
Operational area | |
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Country | |
County | |
Agency overview | |
Chief Fire Officer | Steve Owen-Hughes MBE |
Facilities and equipment | |
Stations | 25 |
Engines | 31 |
Trucks | 1 |
Platforms | 1 |
HAZMAT | 2 |
USAR | 4 |
Wildland | 25 |
Rescue boats | 3 |
Website | |
Official website |
Surrey Fire and Rescue Service delivers prevention and protection to citizens against fires and many other life threatening incidents as well as responding to all types emergencies. It is Established under the Fire and Rescue act, the Fire Safety Order and the Civil Contingencies act. It is part of Surrey County Councils Community Protection Group which includes other citizen focused Services including trading standards, coronary service, emergency planning, military partnership,community resilience and corporate health and safety. The chief fire officer heads up the services that make up the Surrey Community Protection Group and is also the chairman of Surrey Local Resilience Forum.
The fire and rescue service
Surrey Fire and Rescue Service employs approximately 800 staff and looks after a population of over one million people spread across an area of 1,663 square kilometres. The region features several large urban areas such as Guildford, Redhill and Woking; 64 miles of motorway which are the busiest in Europe, and is in close proximity to the two largest airports in the United Kingdom: London Heathrow and London Gatwick.
A total of twenty-five fire stations are strategically located throughout the county. Fifteen of which are crewed on a fully wholetime basis, with fire engine crews on duty at the fire station twenty-four hours a day; one fire station is crewed by wholetime and retained firefighters, and two fire stations operate on a day-crewed/retained basis - during the day fire appliances are crewed by wholetime firefighters operating from the station with retained on-call backup as and when required, whereas during the evening and at night the fire station operates on an entirely on-call retained basis with firefighters responding from home. Seven fire stations are crewed solely on a retained on-call basis. All retained on-call firefighters must live within a five-minute drive of the fire station.
Historically, fire cover was set to national standards that were defined back in the 1930s but today are based on local risk.
Fire stations/appliances
Station callsign | Station name | Duty system | Appliances |
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S11 | Reigate | Wholetime | 1x WrL, 1x IRV, 1x ICCU, 1x ARU, 1x MRV |
S12 | Dorking | Wholetime | 1x WrL, 1x WrC, 1x MRV, 1x EPU*, 1x DIM* |
S13 | Leatherhead | Wholetime | 1x WrL, 1x WrC, 1x ALP, 1x FESU, 1x MRV |
S14 | Godstone | Wholetime | 1x WrL, 1x WrC, 1x MRV |
S15 | Oxted | Retained | 1x WrL, 1x MRV |
S16 | Lingfield | Retained | 1x WrL |
S17 | Epsom | Wholetime | 1x WrL, 1x MRV, 1 FESU |
S18 | Walton-on-Thames | Day crewed*/retained | 2x WrL, 1x SWRU+IRBt*, 1x MRV |
S20 | Esher | Wholetime | 1x WrL, 1x MRV+IRBt |
S21 | Painshill | Wholetime | 1x WrL, 1x ARU*, 1x ICCU* |
S22 | Guildford | Wholetime/retained | 3x WrL, 1x TL, 1x WrC 2x PM+MDD+ISU, 1x MRV |
S23 | Gomshall | Retained | 1x WrL, 1x MRV |
S24 | Godalming | Retained | 1x WrL, 1x MRV |
S25 | Haslemere | Day crewed/cross crewed/retained | 1x WrL, 1x IRV*, 1x MRV, 1x H4V/P* |
S26 | Farnham | Wholetime | 1x WrL, 1x H4V/P*, 1x MRV |
S27 | Dunsfold | Retained | 1x WrL, 1x MRV |
S28 | Cranleigh | Retained | 1x WrL, 1x MRV |
S29 | Woking | Wholetime | 2x WrL, 1x MRV, 1x H4V/P* |
S30 | Camberley | Wholetime | 2x WrL, 1x MRV, 1x H4V/P* |
S31 | Egham | Wholetime | 1x WrL, 1x MRV+IRBt |
S32 | Chobham | Retained | 1x WrL, 1x MRV |
S33 | Chertsey | Wholetime | 1x WrL, 1x BASU*, 1x PM+HVP*, 1x PM+HVHL*, 1x PM+MDD*,1x MRV |
S34 | Salfords | Wholetime | 1x WrL, 1x MRV |
S35 | Banstead | Wholetime | 1x WrL, 1x MRV |
S37 | Fordbridge | Wholetime | 2x WrL, 1x MRV +1x SWRU+IRBt |
Fire appliance glossary/callsigns
- Water ladder (WrL): P1/P2/P3
- Initial response vehicle (IRV): P7
- Water carrier (WrC): W1
- Multi-role vehicle: O1
- Heavy 4x4 tender/pump (H4T/P): M1/M2
- Heavy 4x4 vehicle/animal rescue unit (H4V/ARU): M1
- Aerial ladder platform (ALP): A1
- Swift water rescue unit and inshore rescue boat (SWRU+IRBt): B3
- Incident command and control unit (ICCU): C1
- Environmental protection unit (EPU): H1
- Fire and emergency support unit (FESU): S6
- Prime mover and high volume pump (PM+HVP): T8
- Prime mover and high volume hose laying (PM+HVHL): T9
- Prime mover and incident support unit (PM+ISU): T1/T2
- CBRN response
- Detection, identification and monitoring unit (DIM): H8
- Prime mover and mass decontamination disrobe (PM+MDD): T10
In 2015 24 multi-role Land Rover Defenders were added to the fleet,[1] as well as new BMW X3 officer vehicles, Scania Wrcs and ALPs.
The multi-role vehicles are based at many stations, including Egham, Staines and Camberley and are used for various roles, dependent on the area's specific risk.
Currently the following chassis are used for the roles above:
- WrL: Scania 94d-260, Scania P260, Scania P270, Scania P280 and Volvo FL6/Saxon.
- WrC: Scania P450
- H4T/P: Mercedes-Benz Unimog
- HV4/ARU: Mercedes-Benz Unimog
- ALP: Scania P370
- TL: Scania P370
- SWRU+IRBt: Pioneer, Land Rover Defender, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
- ICCU: Renault
- Forward command: Ford Transit
- EPU: Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
- FESU: Fiat Trigano Tribute
- PM+HVP: MAN Marshall SV Prime Mover
- PM+HVHL: MAN Marshall SV Prime Mover
- PM+ISU: MAN Marshall SV Prime Mover
- DIM: Iveco Daily
- PM+MDD: MAN Marshall SV Prime Mover
- Additional vehicles
- Other ARU: Ford Transit
- Officer vehicles: BMW X3, Vauxhall Astra
- Personal carriers: Ford Transit
- Multi-role vehicle: Land Rover Defender
- Workshops: Mercedes-Benz Vito, Volkswagen Caddy