At the end of March 2025 our workforce consisted of 501 employees delivering prevention, protection, response, control, and support functions. The chart on the right shows how these are distributed to broad role types.
Our workforce consists of wholetime and on-call roles. On-call firefighters serve their local fire and rescue station, and this role is often managed alongside full-time jobs, family commitments, and other activities. A wholetime firefighter is defined as a full-time firefighter, regardless of their rank.
GFRS is classified as ‘significantly rural’ by the NFCC and as a significantly rural fire and rescue service, we make good use of on-call firefighters in areas where the frequency of incidents is lower. Having full-time firefighters at every station is not the most efficient and effective use of resources when resourcing to risk and demand. This model remains valid but is subject to increasing recruitment and retention challenges for on-call firefighters that are affecting the availability of appliances and response times: this will be an area of significant focus for this CRMP and beyond.
significantly that the anti-reside service, we make good use of on-call firefighters in areas where the frequency of incidents is lower. Having full-time firefighters at every station is not the most efficient and effective use of resources when resourcing to risk and demand. This model remains valid but is subject to increasing recruitment and retention challenges for on-call firefighters that are affecting the availability of appliances and response times: this will be an area of significant focus for this CRMP and beyond.
Our fire control staff provide the first point of contact for the public when an emergency occurs. They are well equipped and trained for a range of tasks including emergency call handling and provide calm reassurance while gathering vital information to support an emergency response. Our support staff provide essential core functions, making sure the service runs effectively on a ‘day to day’ basis. For example, ensuring the Service is well positioned to identify and respond in a timely manner to risk and opportunities as they arise, plan and spend budgets effectively, and support delivery of our aims and objectives.
GFRS staffing by Full Time Equivalent (FTE) over time. Source: MHCLG data table 1101