Fire fighting is as much a danger as it always has been and for two centuries we haven't had to be concerned with fire fighting ourselves, especially so in the modern era. In Northern Ireland we thankfully have the services of around 2500 dedicated firemen and women who battle the outbreak of fire and initiate rescue services at the nation's beck and call.
Northern Ireland is home to 1.71 million people and while the area needed to respond to has decreased recently, the Brigade still covers 5,500 square miles and is attended to by fire stations across the country twenty four hours a day. The Northern Ireland Fire And Rescue Service is overseen by sixty eight fire stations and their personnel, with a central emergency control room receiving calls for all services that may be required from ambulance to police.
Of these stations, not all are manned by full time professionals. Parts of the Northern Ireland Fire brigade are staffed by those who work part time or who are volunteers (1%). A third are full time fire fighters, another third are retained and around 10% account for support positions. In all, the NIFRS responded to 27,150 scenes in 2012 and mostly dealt with 3,289 primary (major) fires, 8,365 secondary fires and 1,465 chimney fires with the remaining numbers spread across road traffic accidents and chemical incidents.
Fire fighting isn't the only emergency these brave men and women have to deal with. There are frequent calls to attend road traffic accidents, cats stuck up trees and other scenes such as people stuck in elevators and seasonal flooding and rescuing people from their homes or trapped cars. The equipment fire fighters have today is wide ranging and ensures they have the capability to attend almost any emergency. The NIFRS maintains and operates a variety of mobile appliances and equipment, some of which are rescue pumps and pumping appliances, aerial ladders and all terrain vehicles.
Unfortunately still today, a lot of call outs are due to false alarms, a smaller percentage are due to malicious calls. The majority are due to technical breakdowns and equipment malfunction. Which stills get in the way of attending real calls. The Northern Ireland Fire And Rescue Service is proud of its attendance records and personnel and operates under strict regulations to ensure safety at all times. This is all overseen by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in the Northern Ireland government.