About Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service

Gloucestershire is a diverse county covering 1,044 square miles and with a population of approximately 662,000. The county is divided into six districts: Gloucester, Cheltenham, Forest of Dean, Tewkesbury, Cotswolds and Stroud. 88% of Gloucestershire is classified as rural using Office of National Statistics definitions.

GFRS is an integral part of the county council’s community safety directorate. We respond to a wide range of emergencies, including fires, road traffic collisions, rescues from water, specialist rescues such as people trapped in confined spaces or at height, and hazardous materials incidents. 

We also help to prevent fires and other emergencies through visiting homes and schools; community safety education around fire, road and water safety; targeted interventions such as working with children who start fires; and giving safety advice to businesses. We also carry out audits and regulatory enforcement work to help make sure buildings comply with fire safety law and that responsible persons meet their legal duties. When fires do happen, we investigate the causes and share learning to help prevent similar incidents in future. We work closely with other services and partners to deliver this work.

We have 32 fire engines across 21 stations throughout Gloucestershire, and as the county is largely rural, 16 of these are staffed entirely by on-call firefighters. Of the remaining five stations, two are staffed by wholetime firefighters and three have a mixture of both wholetime and on-call firefighters.