Isles of Scilly Fire and Rescue Service

The Isles of Scilly Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory local authority fire and rescue service covering the Isles of Scilly off the coast of the South West of England. It is the smallest fire and rescue service in the United Kingdom and the only one to be staffed entirely by retained firefighters.[1]

Isles of Scilly Fire and Rescue Service
Operational area
CountryEngland
CountyIsles of Scilly
Agency overview
Employees43 (2019)
Chief Fire OfficerMark Hewitt
Facilities and equipment
Stations5
Website
www.scilly.gov.uk/community-safety/fire-rescue Edit this at Wikidata

The service shares management, and cooperates closely with the airport rescue and fire fighting service (St Mary's Airport RFFS) on St Mary's, which is the only other fire service on the Isles of Scilly.[2]

Fire stations and appliances

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Isles of Scilly Fire and Rescue Service

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Station Name Duty System Appliances[3]
St. Mary's Retained 2008 MAN 4x4
2010 4x4 Toyota Hilux [with Foam/Water Carrier Trailer]
St Agnes Retained 1986 Tractor & water bowser trailer
Bryher Retained 1986 Tractor & water bowser trailer
Tresco Retained 2016 Mercedes Sprinter 6x6
St Martin's Retained 1986 Tractor & water bowser trailer

St Mary's Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting Service

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Station Name Duty System Appliances[2]
St Mary's Airport Day manned Carmichael Mercedes 1124 foam tender
Angloco MAN foam tender

Personnel

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The fire service has 42 on-call firefighters in the ranks of firefighter, crew manager, watch manager, and station manager. The single station manager post (previously shared with the airport fire service) is, as of 2019, vacant and under review.[4]

The service is led by a chief fire executive. Until 2017, this was a uniformed role, with the rank of Chief Fire Officer, but the position is now a non-uniformed appointment, held by the deputy chief executive of the Council of the Scilly Isles. This council officer is also responsible for the airport fire service.[4]

The fire service also has non-operational support staff.

Inspections

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The fire service has a responsibility for domestic and commercial inspections of premises for fire safety. It carries out these inspections on the smaller islands, but contracts them on the main island (St Mary's), where domestic inspections are carried out by the full-time firefighters of the airport fire service, and commercial premises inspections are carried out by Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service.[4]

Performance

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Every fire and rescue service in England and Wales is periodically subjected to a statutory inspection by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). The inspections investigate how well the service performs in each of three areas. On a scale of outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate, Isles of Scilly Fire and Rescue Service was rated as follows:

HMICFRS Inspection Isles of Scilly
Area Rating 2018/19[5] Rating 2021/22[6] Description
Effectiveness Good Good How effective is the fire and rescue service at keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks?
Efficiency Good Requires improvement How efficient is the fire and rescue service at keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks?
People Requires improvement Good How well does the fire and rescue service look after its people?

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Fire prevention". Council of the Isles of Scilly. Archived from the original on 6 October 2006.
  2. ^ a b "Airport fire and rescue service". Council of the Isles of Scilly. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Working together to make the Isles of Scilly safer: Integrated Risk Management Plan 2019-2022" (PDF). Isles of Scilly Fire & Rescue Service / Council of the Isles of Scilly. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  4. ^ a b c "An inspection of Isles of Scilly Fire and Rescue Service" (PDF). Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  5. ^ "Isles of Scilly 2018/19". Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). 20 December 2018. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  6. ^ "Isles of Scilly 2021/22". His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). 20 January 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
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