Avon Fire Brigade came into being on 1 April 1996, as a result of Local Government re-organization. It incorporated the County of Avon Fire Brigade, which in turn incorporated, in 1974, the former Bath and Bristol Fire Brigades together with parts of the Gloucestershire and Somerset Fire Brigades.  It covers an area of 133,244 hectares, and a population of about one million, and provides firefighting, fire safety, rescue and special services to the Bath & North East Somerset (BANES), Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire Unitary Authorities.  Pictured right is Bath Fire Station, itself a listed building within the historic city.

Left; Clifton suspension bridge, Bristol.  The worlds first successful suspension bridge, built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Right; Pultney bridge, Bath.

Total Brigade Staff.   The Brigade employs a total of 1,004 persons at full strength, comprising:-

• 668 Wholetime Firefighters,
• 212 Retained Firefighters,
• 32 Control Room Staff,
• 104 Support Staff.

Although the activities of the Firefighters are the most visible and prominent aspect of the Brigade, the Brigade could not function effectively without a large non-uniformed support staff, such as administrative and clerical staff, mechanics and technicians, cleaners and canteen staff.

Types of Fire Appliances.  The twenty-three Fire Stations in the Brigade together house;-

• Thirty-seven pumps, which are the work-horses of the Brigade; they have a crew of four to six Firefighters, have built-in pumps and a tankful of water; they carry cutting and lifting equipment and ladders for rescues and access; they carry breathing equipment which enable Firefighters to enter smoke and toxic fumes; and they carry a wide variety of other equipment; one or more Pumps will turn out to any fire or other incident. Shown left is the current type of pumping appliance being supplied to the Brigade, by MAN.
• Four turntable ladders with an extended height of thirty metres, used for rescues, and for fighting fires from above.
• Two hydraulic platforms, used for rescues, and for fighting fires from above, they cannot reach as high as Turntable Ladders but are stronger and more stable, and are good aerial platforms from which to fight large fires with large jets of water.
• Three rescue tenders, which carry the extra cutting and lifting gear, rescue gear, and other equipment needed at road traffic accidents and other incidents with people or animals entrapped.
• One major rescue tender, which has extra-heavy duty cutting and lifting gear and a wide range of additional equipment, and which has the capability to lift and tow heavy vehicles.
• One vertical line rescue unit, which carries the equipment used by the Brigade’s specialist teams who carry out rescues from steeply inaccessible places, such as cliffs and deep lift shafts.
• One operational support unit, which is an integrated system to supply, apply and maintain a foam attack.  Used for tackling large fires in oils and flammable liquids.  Alternatively, it can swap the foam for salvage equipment, used to protect against damage from fire, water used in firefighting and the weather, or equipment needed at protracted incidents, such as inflatable buildings, for casualty handling areas etc.
• One road/rail unit able to carry firefighting equipment into the Severn Tunnel, and other parts of the railway system.  (Not yet operational.)
• One breathing apparatus servicing vehicle, used for servicing the breathing apparatus equipment, which enables the equipment to be used more than once at large and protracted incidents, without being returned to station.
• Two hose-laying trailer/towing units, used when there is insufficient water available nearby and the nearest adequate supply of water is a considerable distance away; this can happen in rural areas, or at very large fires needing a lot of water to fight; the hose-laying trailer can lay out approximately 60 lengths(1.5Km) of large diameter hose as it drives from the water supply to the fire.
• One chemical incident unit, which carries chemical-resistant protective clothing and other equipment to enable Firefighters to enter areas made dangerous by leakages of toxic or corrosive chemicals and take action to deal with the incident.
• One control unit, which enables proper communication, planning, command and control to take place at large fires and other incidents, where many pumps and their crews are working in a large area, or when the   incident is protracted.
• Two rescue boats, used in non-tidal waters, such as docks and rivers for rescues and for when rescues might become necessary, e.g. firefighting on ships and wharves.

Crewing Systems.  Avons 23 Fire Stations are crewed in one of three ways:

• The 10 Fire Stations in Bristol, Bath and Weston-Super-Mare, and their suburbs,  are continuously crewed by Wholetime Firefighters who work a shift system.
• In Yate, the Fire Station is continually crewed during the day by Wholetime Firefighters, and at night it is crewed in a manner similar to that explained below.  This system is known as Day Crewing.
• The 12 Fire Stations in rural areas and rural towns  are crewed by Retained Firefighters; they normally have other occupations, but when alerted by Brigade Control will stop whatever they are doing and go immediately to their local Fire Station ready to respond to the fire or other incident.  Retained Firefighters also crew Pumps at the Yate, Bath and Weston-Super-Mare Fire Stations, alongside the wholetime/day crewed pumps.

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