Fire and rescue service operational statistics: April 2019 to March 2020

These statistics cover a period largely prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the lockdown measures introduced on 23 March 2020.

Fire and rescue authority personnel

• There were 2,147 fulltime equivalent staff (FTE) and 1,332 retained duty system (RDS) staff employed across the three Welsh Fire and Rescue Authority areas on 31 March 2020. This compares with 2,096 fulltime and 1,331 retained staff on 31 March 2019.
• Of the 2,147 FTE staff, over two thirds (1,452) were wholetime firefighters, a similar proportion to earlier years.

Health and safety

• During 2019-20, 9.2 shifts/days were lost per person to sickness for wholetime firefighters and 24.3 shifts/days for fire control staff.
• There were 101 injuries sustained by wholetime (including day crew) and retained duty system firefighters in the course of operational and training activities.

Operational activities

• During 2019-20 fire control handled over 70,000 calls in Wales, a decrease of 10% on 2018-19.

Fire safety

• In 2019-20, Welsh Fire and Rescue Authorities completed 3,250 fire safety audits in non-domestic premises. This represents 4% of known such premises in Wales.

Community fire safety

• In 2019-20 the Fire and Rescue Authorities in Wales completed almost 48,000 Home Fire Safety Checks; in 90% of these at least one member of the household was identified as displaying a risk.
• In 2019-20 the Fire and Rescue Authorities completed almost 29,000 Home Fire Safety Checks that also involved completion of non-fire related prevention activity. Over 1,500 resulted in the Fire and Rescue Authorities making an onward referral to another organisation.
• Over 87,000 children and young people received a fire safety talk in school from the Fire and Rescue Authorities in 2019-20.