Fire Authority

Welcome to Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Fire Authority’s website. We hope you find what we have here of interest and do please let us have your comments and views on what we do and how we do it.

Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Fire Authority was created as a separate body corporate in 1997, The Fire Authority became the Fire and Rescue Authority with the implementation of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004. It consists of 25 councillors, six appointed by Stoke-on-Trent City Council and 19 by Staffordshire County Council. There are no independent members. As our name implies, the Authority is responsible to the people living and working in the City and County Council areas for their community fire safety.

To do this we employ firefighters and others to give fire safety advice to fight fires and attend road traffic accidents and other emergencies such as flooding.

We have a statutory duty to community fire safety. In performing these duties we work with the Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive, who is directly responsible to the Authority and acts as its principal adviser. Once the Authority has set its budget for the year, it precepts for the money needed from the Council tax payer, as part of the bill sent out each year by district councils. The Authority appoints its Chair and Vice-Chair annually. By convention since 1997, the Chair has come from the County Council and the Vice-Chair from the City Council.

The Authority approve statutory plans covering its activities. The most important are the Integrated Risk Management Plan, and the Best Value Performance Plan. They monitor the budget, both revenue and capital, throughout the financial year and publish performance indicators, as required by the Audit Commission. They also appoint the Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive, and the Deputy and Assistant Chief Fire Officers.

The Authority holds full meetings, six times a year, together with meetings of its committees (details are on this site). Meetings are usually held at Fire Service Headquarters, Pirehill and are open to the public. The website includes information and documentation relating to the Authority, if you wish to comment or seek further information on specific topics, please go to the main menu.

Thank you for visiting our site and do return again.

Derek Davis, Chairman of Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Fire Authority
Peter Dartford, Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive