Structure of the Workforce
As at 31 December 2017 the Authority employed 1443 staff (1035.7 full-time equivalents or FTEs). These employees span various pay groups which perform a variety of roles and have different working patterns to meet service delivery needs. In simple terms, these are employees who either have an operational role (firefighters working on fire stations, control operators and technical staff working in specialist areas) and wear a uniform, or those who provide administrative and corporate functions such as finance, information systems and human resources, and do not wear a uniform. The Authority has a third group of employees, namely the Chief Executive and two Directors, one of whom is uniformed and the other non-uniformed.
Number of FTE Staff Employed by Category as at 31 December 2017:
| Staff Group | Definition | Number of Staff in Group |
|---|---|---|
| Wholetime Firefighters | Firefighters who work 42 hours a week to crew stations 24 hours a day either as firefighters located at the station, or as firefighters located at the station during the day and responding from their own homes on an on-call basis at night, or who work in specialist areas such as Technical Fire Safety. |
661 (661.00 FTE) |
| Control Room |
Staff who receive 999 calls.
|
30 (30.00 FTE) |
| On-call Firefighters | Firefighters who respond from their own homes or workplaces located near to the fire station on an on-call basis. |
459 (60.9 FTE) |
| Support Staff | Staff who work in administrative and professional support functions and typically don’t wear uniform. |
189 (181.8 FTE) |
| Community Support Front Line |
Specialist staff who provide fire and road safety prevention advice and offer home safety services and specialist advice for those more at risk. |
104 (102.00 FTE) |