Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service News

A convoy of UK fire and rescue services delivering over 15,000 pieces of life-saving firefighting equipment to Ukrainian firefighters is leaving now. 30 fire and rescue vehicles, including 26 fire engines, will also be donated. 18 fire and rescue services from across the UK are participating in the convoy, organized by FIRE AID, National Resilience and International Search and Rescue (based out of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service), HM Government, National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and the Fi...

The Chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), Mark Hardingham, will be standing down in March 2025 when his four-year term of office comes to an end. NFCC recently held an election for a new Chair, with all serving UK Chief Fire Officers and those who had served as a Chief Fire Officer within the last two years eligible to stand. NFCC individual members Three very capable candidates put themselves forward, with the voting taking place across all NFCC individual members during Septembe...

Ten people from across the fire sector have been named in the New Year Honors 2022 lists, in recognition of their services. The honors system recognizes extraordinary people, who in accordance with the list's criteria, ‘made achievements in public life and committed themselves to serving and helping the UK.’ Ongoing impactful work The FPA would like to extend their heartfelt thanks and congratulations to everyone named in the New Year Honours list for 2022, for their ongoing impa...

Within just 48 hours of the government announcing the acceleration of the national vaccination program, fire and rescue services are already supporting the effort and have vaccinated hundreds of people.   Almost half a million vaccinations have been given by fire and rescue service staff this year – and this figure is set to rocket in the coming days as more services will be administering the boosters. Up to 2,500 fire and rescue services, staff could assi...

Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service (MFRS) is urging businesses that have reopened their doors not to overlook fire safety and ensure it remains a top priority in the workplace. The call comes after many businesses had to implement and enforce new ways of working due to the pandemic. MFRS is reminding businesses about the everyday fire risks in the workplace and both the legal and moral responsibility to ensure premises are safe from fire. Many businesses had to respond quickly to the pandemic...

Merseyside firefighters are among those rescue personnel, who are being deployed to help Greece fight wildfires that continue to devastate parts of the country. The team is made up of firefighters from Merseyside, Lancashire, London, South Wales, West Midlands, and NRAT (National Resilience Assurance Team) officers. They will be flying to Athens, the capital of Greece, to help with the firefighting task. National Resilience Assurance Team The team deployment comes, following a formal request...

A Knowsley tower block played host to a major training exercise when the Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service (MFRS) led an exercise to test their response, in the case of a major high-rise fire incident. MFRS’ fire safety training exercise Around 80 emergency service staff, eight fire engines, two support vehicles, and an aerial platform ladder vehicle descended on the unoccupied Gaywood Green, on Broad Lane, in Kirkby, United Kingdom, on Thursday, July 22, 2021, as part of the fire saf...

Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service (MFRS) is warning of the dangers of open water, following the tragic death of a young man in Crosby. Fire crews were called to Crosby beach, at around 7.24 pm, on Tuesday, July 20, 2021, following reports that five people were in difficulty in the water. Two fire engines, the search and rescue team and the rescue boat, Marine Fire One, were sent to the scene. Crosby beach rescue operation Crews assisted the RNLI and Coastguard with recovering the people fr...

Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service (MFRS) is celebrating after being commended by Ofsted Inspectors for producing some of the best and most highly skilled firefighters in the country.  The education watchdog visited MFRS’ Training & Development Academy (TDA) in June as part of a monitoring visit. In a report published this week, inspectors said the Service had made “significant progress” in all areas, the highest judgment a provider can receive. Firefighter apprent...

Merseyside Fire & Rescue Authority (MFRA), part of the Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service (MFRS), has begun a 12-week consultation on proposed changes, to emergency response cover in Aintree and Croxteth, following initial approval to create a new superstation and training center. The consultation will run from 15th July to 7th October 2021. Integrated Risk Management Plan The plans were outlined in a recent consultation on the innovative Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) for 2021-2...

Innovative plans to increase the number of fire engines and create specialist fire stations across Merseyside, United Kingdom have been unanimously approved. The plans contained within Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service’s (MFRS) Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) 2021-24, represent a continued optimism for the fire service, after a lengthy period of cuts, which has resulted in the loss of fire stations, fire engines and firefighters. Integrated Risk Management Plan Bold plans put...

Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service (MFRS) is urging people to think of the consequences of their actions after vandals left residents in a Liverpool high-rise building without a working fire alarm system. Crews were called to high-rise accommodation on Cheapside shortly after midnight on 27th June after the fire alarm sounded, indicating a potential fire somewhere in the six-story building. Inactivated Fire alarm systems In line with MFRS’ pre-determined attendance to incidents involv...

More than 80 staff from Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service took part in a major incident training exercise aboard the Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel RFA Fort Austin, the first for 18 months due to coronavirus. Part of an initiative with Cammell Laird, the training exercise put 10 fire and rescue teams through their paces with two different emergency scenarios - both set on the 23,384-tonne vessel which is berthed at Cammell Laird’s facility in Bidston, Wirral. The first scenario involved...

Roadmap to ease COVID-19 lockdown restrictions should prompt reviews on building fire safety. Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined the Government roadmap “to cautiously ease lockdown restrictions”. Step two of this roadmap, to occur no earlier than 12th April, notes the return of mass non-essential businesses opening for customers. BAFE must stress once again that fire safety obligations continue as normal. What is important about this roadmap is that buildings opening soon contin...

At the beginning of the current lockdown period, BAFE published news that new national lockdown restrictions categorically did not restrict fire safety work. Fire safety personnel continue to remain “key workers” and continuing this work is outlined as acceptable in national lockdown guidance by Government. "You may only leave your home for work if you cannot reasonably work from home, to help reduce the spread of the virus and protect others. If you cannot work from home you should...

Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service (MFRS) is warning of the dangers of smoking in the home following the tragic death of a man in a fire in Whiston at the weekend. The fire occurred in a flat on Cook Street on the afternoon of 3rd January. Crews were alerted at 2.09 pm and on scene at 2.13 pm, arriving within four minutes. Firefighters located a man in the lounge of the flat and carried him outside where they performed CPR. Sadly, the 54-year-old died in hospital overnight. A joint investigat...

With recent developments in the approach out of lockdown, Fire and Rescue Services nationwide have been publishing useful advice and guidance for commercial/non-domestic buildings. A recent news item published by West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) for example, announced a new fire safety leaflet “Returning to Work after COVID-19 Lockdowns” noting important fire safety measures that should continue to be followed to adhere to legislation. new safety measures BAFE has...

telent, a specialist in the effective operation of the UK’s critical national infrastructure, and Merseyside Fire & Rescue Authority (MFRA) are marking a milestone moment this year as their collaborative partnership enters its 19th year, with the contract now secured until 2024. Integrated Risk Management Plan Serving five metropolitan boroughs – Sefton, St Helens, Knowsley, Wirral and Liverpool – community safety and life-saving operations are top priorities for MFRA. In...

Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service (TWFRS) is supporting the position of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) in urging the UK Government to change its stance on sprinklers. In particular it is asking for sprinklers: to become a requirement in all new high-rise residential structures to be retro-fitted in buildings more than 30 metres tall when they are refurbished should be retro-fitted in high-rise residential buildings over 30 metres with a single staircase, regardless of refurbish...

High Volume Pump from Harrogate was used at the Northern Power Melrosegate Electrical Sub Station (York) to keep it operational North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service continue to respond to flooding incidents around the county and in the City of York with the majority of these, recently, being in Tadcaster, Malton and York. NYFRS is being supported by other Services including the use of High Volume Pumps from Tyne and Wear, Durham and Darlington and Nottingham fire and rescu...

Illegal fireworks seized by joint operation between GMFRS and MFRS Joint operation between Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services seized thousands of illegal fireworks. Thousands of illegal fireworks have been seized following a major joint operation between Greater Manchester and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services, the Police and Trading Standards. The haul, thought to originate from Spain, was removed from premises in Bury New R...