Chief Fire Officers Association

The Chief Fire Officers Association or CFOA is the professional body representing senior fire officers in the UK. The organisation used to be known as the Chief and Assistant Chief Fire Officers Association, it was formed in 1974 following local government re-structuring.

The CFOA website says, "CFOA's Aim is to continue as the professional voice of the UK Fire Service, assisting and supporting our members to fulfil their leadership role in improving the well being of local communities in all matters relating to the Fire Services' activities.

Memebership of the CFOA is open to any UK-based senior fire officer above the rank or assistant chief officer, in addition to Chief Fire Officer, sometimes now known as brigade managers or, in Scotland, Fire Master. The CFOA acts as a collective 'voice' for the Fire service in the UK on issues such policy, training; legislative and fire safety issues.

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Fire Extinguisher

A fire extinguisher is an active fire protection device used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergency situations. Typically, a fire extinguisher consists of a hand held cylindrical pressure vessel containing an agent which can be discharged to extinguish a fire.

Usage
The typical steps for operating a fire extinguisher (described by the acronym "PASS") are the following:

P - Pull the safety pin
A - Aim the nozzle at the base of the fire, from a safe distance (about six feet away)
S - Squeeze the handle
S - Sweep the extinguisher from side to side while aiming at the base of the fire

There are various types of extinguishers, which are used for different types of fires; using the wrong type can worsen the fire hazard, but using the right one can better the situation. Please note: You are not required to fight a fire. Get out or away and call the Fire Department.

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The Fire Brigades Union

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is the main union for firefighters in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1918 in the London area as the Firemans Trade Union, but soon grew to cover the entire country. During the Second World War, it began to unionise auxiliaries for the first time. Today, it has around 50,000 members.

Home Page of Fire Brigades Union

Founded := 1918
Members := 50,000
Country := United Kingdom
Affiliation := TUC, STUC
Key people := Matt Wrack, general secretary
Office Loc := Norbiton, Kingston upon Thames
Website := www.fbu.org.uk

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National Fire Service

The National Fire Service (NFS) was the single fire service created in Great Britain in 1941 during the Second World War; a separate National Fire Service (Northern Ireland) was created in 1942.

The NFS was created in August 1941 by the amalgamation of the wartime national Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) and the local authority fire brigades (about 1,600 of them). It existed until 1948, when it was again split, with fire services reverting to local authority control, although this time there were far fewer brigades, with only one per county and county borough.

The NFS had both full-time and part-time members, male and female. Its uniform was the traditional dark blue double-breasted tunic, and it adopted the peaked cap worn by the AFS instead of the peakless sailor-style cap which had been worn by many pre-war fire brigades (including the London Fire Brigade). The peaked cap was retained by fire services after the war.

When they were on duty, but in the frequent long stretches between calls, many firemen and firewomen performed vital wartime manufacturing work, in workshops in the fire stations or adjacent to them. This was entirely voluntary, but since many of the wartime personnel had worked in factories before the war it was work with which they were familiar and skilled.

The Chief of the Fire Staff and Inspector-in-Chief throughout the war (until 28 February 1947, when he retired) was Sir Aylmer Firebrace, former Chief Officer of the London Fire Brigade.

At peak strength the NFS had 370,000 personnel, including 80,000 women. The Fire Services Act 1947 restored fire services to local authority bodies in 1948.

Ranks

Men

* Fireman
* Leading Fireman
* Section Leader
* Company Officer
* Senior Company Officer
* Column Officer
* Divisional Officer
* Assistant Fire Force Commander
* Fire Force Commander
* Chief Regional Fire Officer
* Chief of the Fire Staff

Women

* Firewoman
* Leading Firewoman
* Senior Leading Firewoman
* Assistant Group Officer
* Group Officer
* Assistant Area Officer
* Area Officer
* Regional Woman Fire Officer

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Chief Fire Officer

The rank of Chief Fire Officer or CFO is the highest in the fire Service in England and Wales. Its equivalent in Scotland is Fire Master, although this title has been replaced by Chief Fire Officer in some Scottish brigades. With the changes to the UK fire service in 1974, the title changed to reflect the new county structures and now other titles for this office can include 'County Fire Officer' and 'Chief Executive', neither of which are in common use on their own for example, Greater Manchester FRS use the title 'County Fire Officer and Chief Executive'. In the London Fire Brigade, the CFO is known as 'Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade' - the post is currently held by Sir Ken Knight.

Responsibilities

A CFO is responsible for the day-to-day command of the fire service in all areas. Ultimately however major policies and procedures have to be agreed and passed by the Fire Authority to whom the CFO reports. The Fire Authority is a committee of locally elected councilors. The committee's prime responsibility is to ensure that the fire service is run properly and responsibly. In simple terms the Chief Officer is directly answerable to someone who represents the interests of the general public. The collective voice for CFOs on policy, planning and strategy in the UK is CFOA Chief Fire Officers Association, previously known as CACFOA (Chief and Assistant Chief Fire Officers Association).

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London Fire Brigade

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the statutory fire and rescue service for London, England. It is run by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and is the third-largest fire service in the world with nearly 7000 staff of which 5800 are operational firefighters and officers.

In 2004 it answered nearly 300,000 emergency calls, responded to 60,000 fires and over 5000 traffic accidents, making it one of the busiest fire brigades in the world. In 2005, it received over 9000 hoax calls, the highest number of all the fire brigades in the United Kingdom.

As well as fire fighting, the LFB responds to hazardous material incidents, conducts emergency planning and performs fire safety inspections and education.

It does not provide an ambulance service, this function is performed by the London Ambulance Service as an independent NHS Trust, however all firefighters are trained in first aid and fire engines - or appliances as they are known - carry first-aid equipment including basic resuscitators.

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