Northumberland Fire & Rescue Service

Northumberland County Fire Brigade was established on 1 April 1948, following the disbanding of the National Fire Service, which had been set up during WWII. The new Brigade took over the services of smaller urban Brigades, including Blyth, Gosforth, Wallsend and Whitley Bay. In 1974, a Local Government reorganisation saw the Brigade lose a number of its southern stations (Gosforth, Wallsend, Newburn & Whitley Bay) to the newly formed Tyne & Wear Fire Brigade. The Brigade was one of the early adopters of the Fire & Rescue designation, changing its name in 1982.

Today, the service operates 15 fire stations across a mainly rural and sparsely populated county. Of these stations, two are wholetime, two are day crewed with RDS support, and eleven are Retained Duty System only (on call). The service responds to approx 3,500 incidents each year.