The statistics and stories behind your fire service for 2024/25

We have published our latest performance report which details the statistics and stories of our fire service over the past year (2024/2025). The report is split into three focus areas to reflect our priorities, these are our people, our community and our environment.

The report covers the period April 2024 – March 2025, during which time we attended over 8800 incidents, which is in line with the previous year.

Our safe and well visits, where we visit the homes of those most vulnerable to ensure they are as safe as possible from the risk of fire, are up 10 per cent.

Whilst our fire safety audits of premises are up a staggering 82 per cent. A new risk-based inspection programme has been introduced, allowing teams to focus on higher-risk premises such as care homes, hotels, tall buildings and hospitals.

We recruited new full-time firefighters during this period, attracting over 900 applications for the positions we had available, indicating that firefighting is still an attractive career choice for many.

Highlights in the report include the success of our award-winning “Safe+Sound” programme which has seen over 7000 year five pupils take part in interactive workshops, educating them on how to stay safe.

Whilst another award-winning programme, “Home from Hospital,” has seen our teams support 2,600 patients discharged from hospital, safely return them to their homes and settle them back in. Only one readmission occurred within 24 hours, showing the strong impact this team is having. The team were the first external partners to receive the Chief Executive Award from University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust - recognising their outstanding contribution to patient care.

Our commitment to caring for our environment is demonstrated with the introduction of a number of electric and hybrid vehicles, including our first fully electric response vehicle, which one of our officers uses to attend emergencies.

Chief Fire Officer, Rob Barber said: “I’m extremely proud of the hard work of our teams and what they have delivered, in what was our 50^th anniversary year.

“As well as supporting our people, our communities and our environment we also managed to raise over £50,000 for The Fire Fighters Charity, which is a fantastic achievement.

“Whist the number of incidents for this reporting year on largely on par with previous years we are already seeing a significant rise in incidents in the 2025/2026 reporting period, with outdoor fires alone up a massive 70 per cent, putting additional demand on our Service. This is something we will be monitoring closely.”

Staffordshire Commissioner for Police, Fire & Rescue and Fire Ben Adams said: “This report highlights the range of work Staffordshire Fire & Rescue carries out in addition to tackling fires. This includes forward-thinking prevention activity, such as the Falls Response and Home from Hospital schemes, to protect the most vulnerable in our communities.

 “It is particularly encouraging to see the Service graded ‘Outstanding’ by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services for its response to major and multi-agency incidents, and ‘Good’ across the majority of other areas. These results reflect the hard work and professionalism of our firefighters, staff and volunteers, and the clear direction set by the Chief Fire Officer and his senior leadership team.

 “I’d like to thank everyone at Staffordshire Fire & Rescue for their commitment and dedication in keeping the communities of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent safe.”

To view a full copy of the report, visit statement-of-assurance-2024-2025.pdf.