Fire-fighters are known to fight fires and that is it, but in matter of fact, we are now known as Fire

and Rescue Service. The Fire and Rescue Services core functions are; preventing, protecting and responding We provide emergency and protection services to the communities of ; - Bath & North East Somerset, - Bristol, North Somerset - South Gloucestershire. We are committed to providing a safer place for people to live, work and visit across an area of 134,753 hectares and a population of over one million.

A lot of our work now focuses on how we can prevent accidents and emergencies happening in the first place, as we believe this is the best way to protect our communities. We do this by providing advice and education through; Events Open days where the public people can come down to the Fire Station to look at the Vehicles, uniform and a talk from the officers available. Visits These can range from schools to businesss, community officers go to these places and provide information on incidents which could occur at any time, information includes, how to prevent, protect and respond.

Fire-fighters are known to fight fires and that is it, but in matter of fact, but it we are now known as Fire and Rescue Service. We cover a range of incidents, these being; Arson, Fires, Disasters (Floods, earthquakes), Chemical spills (alongside the Army), Road accidents, Animals trapped (75 is charged for use of officers), Carbon Monoxide leaks.

According to statistics, 1 in 3 calls are made about a fire.

There was also around 6,000 intentional fires attended to by the Fire and Rescue Service, which mainly involved furniture shops. Houses, businesss and churches.

The Fire and Rescue Services role is to try and prevent these intentional fires by providing information and preventable advice for people of the public, they also attend these fires to protect the people (priority) and the environment.

For example; In Lancashire, 7 people were charged for a total of 12 years and 4 months after they purposely set fire to buildings and various other properties within the area, costing hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Smokers' materials, predominantly cigarettes, were the source of ignition in the fires that accounted for 96 of the 268 fatalities in accidental dwelling fires in 2010-11. More than half (51 per cent) of accidental fires in homes arose from cooking. Other common sources of ignition were: electrical appliances (12 per cent), electrical distribution (10 per cent), smokers' materials (7 per cent), and space heating appliances (4 per cent).

A specific fire caused within the UK is;

Fire fighters were called to a Pizza Factory as it was reported that a pizza caught fire whilst on the conveyor belt, causing the fire to start, over 420 staff were evacuated immediately for their own safety. A sprinkler system applied to the factory help prevent any serious damage. Two Fire engines and 10 fire fighters attended the incident. No staff or public people were injured.

113 Fire stations are available around the country for use 24 hours a day, all year round, when there is an incident, these being; Floods, Hurricanes, earthquakes and tornados. The Fire and Rescue Service are called instantly to help provide support to Police and Army if they are there. The Fire and Rescue Services main roles when incidents caused by nature such as; floods, earthquakes and tornados/hurricanes. The fire mens role was to clear any debris build up allowing water to flow away from the village. They were also required to help winch people to safety within buildings if people are trapped, this done by using ladders on the pumps (Fire Engines), An example of an incident like this is; Boscastle was hit by a large quantity of rain (1 months worth in a few hours) according to the Home Office, this causing sever damage to the villages infrastructure, homes, businesses and vehicles. No people were killed in this incident, some were injured.

It was reported there was over 208,000 vehicle accidents (as of august 2010), this being lower than that of 2009. Fatalities dropped from 2009 from 2,346 down to 1,876.

The fire and rescue Service are require to attend serious vehicle accidents, this can involve people being injured in the car and needed to be removed safely or vehicles being so badly damaged, that people are trapped within them. We are also required to clear all dangers around the area, e.g. Fires, debris, chemicals, fuel or any other flammable materials.
A prime example of The Fire and Rescue Service helping is; The M5 pile-up in early November had been very serious, it was told to have been foggy with slippery surfaces causing the cars to skid whilst braking, it was also reported that drivers could hardly see in front of them. The Fire and Rescue Service however save trapped people from their cars and was there to assist the Police and help clear the debris from the roads put the fires out which started almost instantly as the crash happened, putting lives at risk.

The fire and rescue Service also work alongside the Chemical Unit who specialise with the removal of chemicals, the fire service ensure that the chemicals have been disposed of by hosing down the area which could be dangerous to others. We also work with the Police, we are responsible for ensuring that the local businesses and local residents are aware of the situation (chemical spillage).

In Staffordshire, 5 fire crews were called to a car park behind Francescas Hair salon on Burnett Road, the crew was called just before 3pm with reports that 2 drums full of used dry cleaning liquids had come out of the storage drums they were in as 2 men tried to roll them out whilst cleaning their garage. Around 20 litres of the chemicals had spilt, resulting in the whole area being evacuated as the liquid can give off deadly fumes.