Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service, Fire Safety Advice, Fire Safety Training, Health and Safety

"Providing and maintaining an efficient and effective fire and rescue service which is responsive to the needs of the community in Northern Ireland"

It is our statutory duty to provide you with an effective firefighting and rescue service that is mobilised efficiently to emergencies, keeping you safe from fires and other dangers. We will continue to extinguish fires while saving lives, protecting the environment and property and respond effectively to all emergency situations in Northern Ireland including road traffic collisions, collapsed buildings and specialist rescues.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Louis B Jones is the Director of Operations and as such, has the responsibility for operational service delivery across Northern Ireland, overseeing the Operations Department based at NIFRS Headquarters as well as 4 Area Commands.

Our 4 Area Commands are supported by 14 Districts, strategically placed across Northern Ireland - an area of 5,500 square miles, with a population of 1.7 million.

NIFRS has 68 fire stations:

7 Wholetime
7 Wholetime / Retained
1 Wholetime (Defined Hours)
7 Variable Crewed
45 Retained
1 Volunteer

The Wholetime firefighters, based at fire stations in the larger towns and cities throughout Northern Ireland, are immediately available to attend an emergency incident. Wholetime firefighters are organised into watches (shifts) and crew fire stations 24 hours per day.

The Retained (part-time) firefighters based in their own towns go about their daily business in the normal way until they receive an emergency call. They then make their way to the fire station and respond to the incident.

Formerly crewed by entirely Retained personnel, Variable Crewed Stations have 1 appliance crewed by Wholetime personnel for 12 Hours a day from 11.00hrs to 23.00hrs, 7 days a week. The Retained complement will crew the second appliance on a 24 hour basis and will crew the first appliance outside the period of Wholetime cover.

During the period of Wholetime cover, the first appliance will be crewed by 5 personnel. This crew can be made up of the entire Wholetime watch or a combination of Wholetime and Retained personnel from that station.

For further information relating to the functions of the Operations Department based at Headquarters please click on the links below.