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Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service

Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service is a large rural service covering the Lake District to the Pennines in the east, and from the industrialised West Cumbrian coast to the estuaries in the south of the county. Cumbria is the third-largest county in England by area.

There is an emphasis on community safety work and much of the day-to-day operation of the service focuses on this.

The service has 38 stations. Since 2012 the service’s headquarters have been based at Penrith, next to Cumbria Constabulary’s headquarters.

Connect with Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service

HMICFRS region and HMI

  • His Majesty’s Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services (HMI): Lee Freeman is HMI for Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service
  • HMICFRS region: The service is in HMICFRS’s Northern fire region

HMICFRS’s role in inspecting this service

For over 160 years, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary independently assessed and reported on the efficiency and effectiveness of police forces and policing, in the public interest.

In summer 2017, HMIC (now HMICFRS) took on inspections of England’s fire & rescue services, assessing and reporting on their efficiency, effectiveness and leadership.

Key facts – 2020/2021

Service Area

2,634 square miles

Population

0.50m people
No change local 5 yr change

Workforce

45% wholetime firefighters
55% on-call firefighters
1.02 per 1000 population local
0.56 national level
down5% local 5 yr change
down5% national 5 yr change

Assets

38 stations
42 fire engines

Incidents

2.9 fire incidents per 1000 population local
2.7 national
2.1 non-fire incidents per 1000 population local
2.7 national
2.9 fire false alarms per 1000 population local
3.8 national

Cost

£29.27 firefighter cost per person per year
£25.22 firefighter cost per person per year (national)