FAQs About The Fire Service

Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service aims to provide an educational engagement visit to every Year 5 child in primary school. To arrange an educational engagement visit, please email education@bucksfire.gov.uk with the name and address of the school, a contact name and phone number and if any of the pupils have special educational needs.

Organisations such as the Women’s Institute, residents in sheltered housing, carers, district nurses etc. may request a talk about fire safety in the home. These are delivered by a Community Safety Co-ordinator who will liaise with the group to confirm desired content and an appropriate time. To request a fire safety talk email communitysafetyteam@bucksfire.gov.uk with the name of the group, the address of the group’s regular meeting place, a preferred day/night of the week, a contact name and phone number.

Organisations such as the Women’s Institute, residents in sheltered housing, carers, district nurses etc. may request a talk about fire safety in the home. These are delivered by a Community Safety Co-ordinator who will liaise with the group to confirm desired content and an appropriate time. To request a fire safety talk email communitysafetyteam@bucksfire.gov.uk with the name of the group, the address of the group’s regular meeting place, a preferred day/night of the week, a contact name and phone number.

Educational station visits can be arranged for Scouts/Guides/similar organisations to learn about the Firefighters role and equipment, fire safety, what to do in the event of a fire and how to call the emergency services. They are also appropriate for home educated children, charities or organisations supporting those with special educational needs and disabilities. Please email Education@Bucksfire.gov.uk including: group name, address of the group’s regular meeting place, a preferred day/night of the week, a contact name and phone number.

A person with a tendency to hoard or diagnosed with hoarding disorder may be at increased risk from fire due to the amount of materials within their home causing extra fire loading. They may also experience difficulty in exiting the premises quickly in the event of emergency. We run a confidential peer support group to enable those who hoard, or family, friends or carers who support hoarders, to discuss the condition, obtain peer support, information and advice. Home fire safety advice can also be offered during a Home Fire Safety Visit.

If there is an immediate risk to their life, dependent on the circumstances you would need to request police or ambulance attendance by calling 999. If you are concerned about the mental health of an individual, encourage them to see a medical professional such as their doctor, mental health team, or accident and emergency department.

During a Home Fire Safety Visit we can review fire safety within the home of the person with visual impairment and provide advice to reduce their risk from fire. The person with visual impairment can consent to be referred to the local sensory service for assessment, and provision of appropriate specialist advice and equipment. A Home Fire Safety Visit can only be requested on behalf of someone else when they have consented to their details being shared for this purpose.

During a Home Fire Safety Visit we can review fire safety within the home of the person with hearing loss and provide advice to reduce their risk from fire. The person with hearing loss can consent to be referred to the local sensory service for assessment, and provision of appropriate specialist advice and equipment. A Home Fire Safety Visit can only be requested on behalf of someone else when they have consented to their details being shared for this purpose.

A person with mobility issues or disability may be at increased risk from fire through dropping or knocking over a lit item such as a candle or cigarette and not being able to retrieve it. Fire safety advice to reduce this risk can be offered during a Home Fire Safety Visit. A Home Fire Safety Visit can only be requested on behalf of someone else when they have consented to their details being shared for this purpose.

If a child in your family or that you care for is engaging in fire play or firesetting, you may wish to refer them to the Firewise, Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service’s Firesetter Intervention Scheme.

Yes, we do. Home Fire Safety Checks (HFSCs) or Home Fire Safety Visits (HFSV) as we call them, are a service for people who are at increased risk from fire. An HFSV can only be requested on behalf of someone else when they have consented to their details being shared for this purpose.

A person is around eight times more likely to die from a fire if they do not have a working smoke alarm in their home. This risk is heightened if that person is older or living with disability. Smoke alarms are fitted where needed during Home Fire Safety Visit. For those living in rented property, the landlord is responsible for providing working smoke alarms on the first day of your tenancy and replacing them when required.

Home Fire Safety Visits are a service for people who are at increased risk from fire. During a Home Fire Safety Visit, fire safety and general wellbeing will be considered, and advice provided. Click here to find out more about the visit.

Information on our gender pay gap is available here.

Our equality data is available here and we also publish information on our gender pay gap here.

We recruit for a variety of roles throughout the year, for operational and support roles, some of these will be apprentices, and as a result numbers will change. We provide an annual report on the number of apprentices we have employed over that year, in line with the public sector apprenticeship target. The latest report can be found here.

Information about the salaries, accountabilities and responsibilities of the Chief Fire Officer/Chief Executive, members of the Senior Management Team, and our senior managers is available here.

Details of our senior officers are available here. Together they make up our Senior Management Team. The Senior Management Team meets weekly. Once a month they meet for a formal Strategic Management Board meeting.

We have a number of operational vehicles, or “fire appliances”, details of these vehicles can be found in the individual fire station pages here.

We have 19 strategically placed stations across Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes. These comprise 10 stand-alone On-Call stations, seven combined Wholetime/On-Call stations and two Wholetime stations. More details about our fire stations and their locations can be found on our Stations page which is accessible here.

You have the right to access information about you including the right to obtain confirmation that we process your personal data, receive certain information about the processing of your personal data, and to obtain a copy of the personal data we process. For more information, and details on how to raise a request, please go to this page.

Our approach aims to make as much information available as possible, to be open, honest and accurate in providing this information, and in creating records that may be of public interest. There are a number of ways in which you can request information from us, details of these can be found here.

We make every effort to provide the best possible service we can, and we aim to learn from things we do well. If you would like to let us know about something you think we have done well, or if you would like to thank one of our employees you can do so here.

Although we make every effort to provide the best possible service we can, we understand that there may be areas in which we can improve. We will address concerns and investigate improvement opportunities by acting on suggestions received. If you would like to make a suggestion or have a concern about us you can raise these with us here.

We welcome driveway widening as it takes cars off the road and allows fire engines to pass more easily. If your building plans are obstructed by a yellow post we will normally agree to its removal. Please let our Water Officer know by clicking here. We will pass by and put up a replacement yellow plate on nearby roadside furniture.