The History of HFRS
Early Brigades
Prior to 1938, there were between 1400 and 1500 small municipal fire brigades run by local councils throughout the country. Some were full time but there were many volunteer brigades in small towns and villages, of which most could trace their ancestry back to the era of privately owned Insurance Brigades, or Gentlemen's Brigades (Volunteers).
Although these fire fighting services existed, to a greater or lesser extent, in the rest of the country they were not compulsory until 1938 when Government legislation made the use of the British Fire Brigades statutory.
The National Fire Service
The outbreak of World War II in 1939, highlighted many short comings within these Brigades and consequently the Auxiliary Fire Service formed in 1941, and subsequently the National Fire Service were formed; bringing with them a conforming uniformity.
Following the war the N.F.S was placed in the hands of local County Authorities, by the introduction of the regulating Fire Services Act of 1947. This act of parliament became effective on the 1st of April 1948 and resulted in 148 county council and county borough run Fire Brigades. This act has since been updated as recently as 2004.
During the preceding fifty years the fire service has seen many changes, in working practices, equipment and parliamentary regulation. Due to the ever increasing and diverse role of present day Fire Brigades, many are changing their titles to include the words 'Fire & Rescue' to highlight the adapting role that they now undertake.
Reorganisation
In 1974 Humberside Fire Brigade was formed following local government reorganisation from the amalgamation of the East Riding of Yorkshire County Council Fire Service, Grimsby Borough Fire Brigade, Kingston upon Hull City Fire Brigade and part of the Lincoln (Lindsey) Fire Brigade and a small part of the West Riding of Yorkshire County Fire Brigade. Humberside Fire Brigade Boundary followed the now obsolete Humberside County Council boundary area. In total there are 63 brigades in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
When Humberside County Council, was abolished in 1995, a parliamentary combination order came into effect, establishing Humberside Fire Authority (the current ruling body of Humberside Fire Brigade) with control of all brigade personnel, equipment and premises. This is a combined fire authority, which is financed by the constituent councils of East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston Upon Hull City Council, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire Council.
Today
Humberside Fire Brigade has changed its name to Humberside Fire & Rescue Service. This is to feflect the role we now play in many aspects of fire safety as we do much more than just putting out fires.
The Humberside Fire & Rescue Service area encompasses 1,356 square miles, including the Humber Estuary, the Yorkshire Wolds in the North, the Vale of York in the West and the Lincolnshire Wolds in the South. The main centres of population are the City of Hull and the towns of Grimsby and Scunthorpe, with a population of almost 900,000 people. Additionally, over a million people travel by North Sea Ferries to and from Europe via Kingston-upon-Hull each year and Humberside International Airport handles a further 500,000 people.
There are varied risks within the Humberside Fire & Rescue Service area ranging from high tech Petrochemical Industries, an International airport, large areas of farmlands, hospitals, and many residential areas. The Humber ports of Immingham, Grimsby, Goole and Hull handle more trade with Europe than any other British port.
Typically, Humberside Fire & Rescue Service responds to over 20,000 incidents every year which involve over 24,000 vehicle movements, additionally, fire safety officers carry out 20,000 inspections of premises every year as well as giving fire safety advice to all sections of the community via the newspapers, local radio and television.
The Community Advice Display Unit visits over 80 locations every year to take the fire safety message direct to the people we protect, in addition to which, all nine year olds receive fire safety education as part of their formal curriculum. With iniatives like this we aim to make Humberside a safer place long into the future.