Surrey Fire and Rescue Service


The Surrey Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service for the County of Surrey, England, with 25 fire stations. It comes under the administrative and legislative control of Surrey County Council, acting as the Fire Authority who fund the service by collecting a precept via council tax, and from central government funds, known as a grant settlement and provide the Political leadership for the Service.
Surrey Fire and Rescue Service delivers prevention and protection to citizens against fires and many other life threatening incidents as well as responding to all types emergencies. It is Established under the Fire and Rescue act, the Fire Safety Order and the Civil Contingencies act. It is part of Surrey County Councils Community Protection Group which includes other citizen focused Services including trading standards, coronary service, emergency planning, military partnership,community resilience and corporate health and safety. The chief fire officer heads up the services that make up the Surrey Community Protection Group and is also the chairman of Surrey Local Resilience Forum.

The fire and rescue service

Surrey Fire and Rescue Service employs approximately 800 staff and looks after a population of over one million people spread across an area of 1,663 square kilometres. The region features several large urban areas such as Guildford, Redhill and Woking; 64 miles of motorway which are the busiest in Europe, and is in close proximity to the two largest airports in the United Kingdom: London Heathrow and London Gatwick.
A total of twenty-five fire stations are strategically located throughout the county. Fifteen of which are crewed on a fully wholetime basis, with fire engine crews on duty at the fire station twenty-four hours a day; one fire station is crewed by wholetime and retained firefighters, and two fire stations operate on a day-crewed/retained basis - during the day fire appliances are crewed by wholetime firefighters operating from the station with retained on-call backup as and when required, whereas during the evening and at night the fire station operates on an entirely on-call retained basis with firefighters responding from home. Seven fire stations are crewed solely on a retained on-call basis. All retained on-call firefighters must live within a five-minute drive of the fire station.
Historically, fire cover was set to national standards that were defined back in the 1930s but today are based on local risk.

Fire stations/appliances

Station callsignStation nameDuty systemAppliances
S11ReigateWholetime1x WrL, 1x IRV, 1x ICCU, 1x ARU, 1x MRV
S12DorkingWholetime1x WrL, 1x WrC, 1x MRV, 1x EPU*, 1x DIM*
S13LeatherheadWholetime1x WrL, 1x WrC, 1x ALP, 1x FESU, 1x MRV
S14GodstoneWholetime1x WrL, 1x WrC, 1x MRV
S15OxtedRetained1x WrL, 1x MRV
S16LingfieldRetained1x WrL
S17EpsomWholetime1x WrL, 1x MRV, 1 FESU
S18Walton-on-ThamesDay crewed*/retained2x WrL, 1x SWRU+IRBt*, 1x MRV
S20EsherWholetime1x WrL, 1x MRV+IRBt
S21PainshillWholetime1x WrL, 1x ARU*, 1x ICCU*
S22GuildfordWholetime/retained3x WrL, 1x TL, 1x WrC 2x PM+MDD+ISU, 1x MRV
S23GomshallRetained1x WrL, 1x MRV
S24GodalmingRetained1x WrL, 1x MRV
S25HaslemereDay crewed/cross crewed/retained1x WrL, 1x IRV*, 1x MRV, 1x H4V/P*
S26FarnhamWholetime1x WrL, 1x H4V/P*, 1x MRV
S27DunsfoldRetained1x WrL, 1x MRV
S28CranleighRetained1x WrL, 1x MRV
S29WokingWholetime2x WrL, 1x MRV, 1x H4V/P*
S30CamberleyWholetime2x WrL, 1x MRV, 1x H4V/P*
S31EghamWholetime1x WrL, 1x MRV+IRBt
S32ChobhamRetained1x WrL, 1x MRV
S33ChertseyWholetime1x WrL, 1x BASU*, 1x PM+HVP*, 1x PM+HVHL*, 1x PM+MDD*,1x MRV
S34SalfordsWholetime1x WrL, 1x MRV
S35BansteadWholetime1x WrL, 1x MRV
S37FordbridgeWholetime2x WrL, 1x MRV +1x SWRU+IRBt

Fire appliance glossary/callsigns

;CBRN response:
In 2015 24 multi-role Land Rover Defenders were added to the fleet, as well as new BMW X3 officer vehicles, Scania Wrcs and ALPs.
The multi-role vehicles are based at many stations, including Egham, Staines and Camberley and are used for various roles, dependent on the area's specific risk.
Currently the following chassis are used for the roles above:
;Additional vehicles: