Our Team

The Estates Department is responsible for the management of revenue and capital budgets for over 70 properties, at locations throughout the operational area of Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service. The team provide an integrated approach to operating, maintaining, improving and adapting the Service’s buildings and infrastructure to ensure they are well-maintained and fit for operational objectives.

Responsibilities range from the acquisition of land, major capital schemes, management of hard and soft facilities services such as heating, electrical services, cleaning, waste and energy management, as well as the day-to-day maintenance issues consisting of minor repairs, such as a leaking tap to more involved minor works projects.

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service maintains an extensive vehicle fleet which comprises a diverse range of specialist vehicles.

Supporting these vehicles to ensure they are always available to support a whole range of operational demands faced by the Service, is the responsibility of the Transport Department.

The role of the Human Resources department is to develop and support the Service’s plans for recruiting, developing and retaining high performing employees in a fair and supportive environment.

The department is arranged around five internal functions: Employee Relations, Occupational Health, Equality and Diversity, Human Resources Administration and Corporate Administration. Collectively, the department deals with terms and conditions of employment, policy formation, support and implementation, absence monitoring, health and wellbeing, cultural change, recruitment, employee data processing, and front of house services.

The department also comprises the Service’s payroll function, which deals with all matters relating to salaries and expenses for Councillors and staff, as well as direct taxation issues.

The ICT department is responsible for implementing and supporting information technologies in a secure manner, in order to deliver business efficiency improvements, enhance the safety of operational firefighters and empower all Service staff.

There are two elements to the ICT Department, namely Support and Development. The Support arm addresses the installation and maintenance requirements of PC hardware, radio equipment, paging and mobile data requirements. Whilst the Development team undertake the commissioning, configuration and management of business software systems. 

OEA is responsible for the research, development and purchasing of operational equipment; with an overall view to ensuring consistency of approach across the Service area.

The department has a water section who are responsible for securing and maintaining effective firefighting water supplies and carrying out hydrant maintenance, liaising with water companies.

The department also coordinates the inspection and assurance programs for the Service.

OPAL has the responsibility to manage the transition from our current Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to National Operational Guidance (NOG). During this transitional period, OPAL will also ensure that our current SOPs are reviewed and updated, as required.

The department is also responsible for operational learning and managing the Operational Learning System (OLS), which assists the Service to achieve and maintain the highest level of operational safety and performance.

The principal role of the People Development department is to identify and support professional development opportunities for all staff, in order to ensure that the Service maintains and develops a highly skilled workforce.

The development of learning and development opportunities for personnel is recognised as paramount to the Service’s future success. The department is committed to the continual development of the Organisational Development Pathways model in order to identify and support individuals in their role within the Service.​

The Procurement department deal with initial acquisition and supply through to disposal, incorporating sustainable considerations such as economic, ethical, moral and environmental factors.

Within the central team, corporate procurement is covered in terms of strategy, policy, tendering, contracts, training, national issues and support to budget holders. We aspire to influence national and sector-specific procurement and foster collaboration.

Service Response provides our core protection duties for the communities we serve, comprising of Fire Control, along with our 58 Fire and Rescue Stations and their respective Command areas. 

Our Fire Control Room, based in Bridgend, receives all emergency calls, processing them accordingly and mobilising the appropriate operational crews to deal with any incidents.

We cover some 12,000 square kilometres of Wales, with 58 Fire and Rescue Stations located across the area to ensure we are able to protect all our communities. These Stations are covered by a mix of crewing models based on risk and share the wide variety of skills required to deal with all the incidents we respond to. You can visit the Your Area section of our site to find out more about your local Fire and Rescue Station.

The principal role of the Training Delivery department is to train and assess our operational personnel in a range of risk critical skill areas. These include Breathing Apparatus; Fire Behaviour; Road Traffic Collision; Manual Handling; Line Rescue; Emergency Response Driving; Water Rescue and Immediate Emergency Care. We also deliver initial foundation training to recruit firefighters, providing them with a range of skills which allows them to ride on our front line appliances.

Our provision of high quality training and regular assessment in these key areas ensures that the Service maintains a competent and  highly skilled workforce, thereby providing a world class service to the communities it serves.