Skip to main content
Accessibility Tool
  • Zoom in
  • Zoom out
  • Reset
  • Contrast
  • Accessibility help
Home

Website header menu

  • Join Essex Fire
  • Request a home safety visit
  • Contact us
Menu Close
  • Home
  • About us
    Back
    About us
    • About the Fire Service
      Back
      About the Fire Service
      • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Our Fire Stations
    • Accessibility statement
    • Compliments and Complaints
    • Financial information
    • How we respond to emergency calls
    • Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex
      Back
      Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex
      • Council tax
    • Service Leadership Team
    • Strategy & Vision
      Back
      Strategy & Vision
      • Intergrated Risk Management Plan
      • Our strategy
    • The Essex Fire Museum
  • Join Essex Fire
  • Safety advice
  • Children and education
    Back
    Children and education
    • Education Hub
    • Activities for Children
    • Key Stage One
    • Key Stage Two
    • Key Stage Three
    • Key Stage Four
    • Key Stage Five
  • Prevention
    Back
    Prevention
    • Education for Schools in Essex
    • Fire Break
    • Fire Cadets
    • Juvenile Fire Setters
  • Incidents
  • News
  • Contact us
    Back
    Contact us
    • Contact our Service
    • Incident Reports

Website header menu

  • Join Essex Fire
  • Request a home safety visit
  • Contact us
About our Service

About our Service

Essex is home to two airports, Stansted and Southend, as well as Harwich seaport, Lakeside shopping centre, Coryton oil refinery, power stations, docks at Tilbury and, along the Thames, seven underground stations and parts of the M25 and M11…

Find out more
Save Safely

Save Safely

Fires cost. At best it’s smoke damage and a new appliance, at worst it’s your house or even your life. Here are our best tips to save money while staying safe at the same time. 

The cost of living is rising and people are…

Find out more
Winter Safety

Winter Safety

During winter months, you might have more electrics, more items and more people in your home or you might be lighting candles and cooking more. Follow our advice to keep you and your family safe this winter. 

Find out more

Welcome to our new website. We welcome your feedback.

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
Two of our male firefighters holding three black and white cocker spaniel puppies in their arms after rescuing them from a fire.

How we respond to Emergency Calls

If you need the fire and rescue service, always dial 999. You can do this from any private, public or mobile phone for free. There is also a British Sign Language app that can connect you to an interpreter.

We Are Essex Fire!

Do you know what happens when our control team answer a 999 call? Learn how we spread our resources across the county to make sure the right response reaches you in an emergency.

Remote video URL

Do you know what happens when you dial 999?

Our Control Room Officers will work to reassure you while a crew are on their way to you. Usually this is the closest crew but it could be a crew that has specialist equipment, like our Animal Rescue Unit which is based in Chelmsford or our Swift Water Rescue trained firefighters who are based around the county.  

Not only does the Control Room answers emergency calls, but the team also works to move resources to different areas in the county based on risk. We carefully monitor and analyse the risk factors in each area and the Control Room moves crews around the county as needed to cover Essex effectively and safely.  

On a typical day, we attend around 70 incidents – seven fires, 24 false alarms and 39 special services (non fire incidents that require our help).  

Chris Parker, our Director of Operations said:

“In Essex, we have 50 fire stations with a range of different equipment at different stations and our priority is to get to you as quick as we can when you need us.  

“A number of our fire stations are designated core stations and this means that when a crew leaves a core station to attend an incident or for training, our Control Room will send a new crew from elsewhere in the county so we are ready to deploy firefighters when we’re called.  

“Our crews across Essex are made up of fully trained firefighters, both wholetime and on-call, who can be moved around the county to maximise our resources. Our dedicated on-call firefighters, who all live or work within five minutes of an on-call fire station, give us more flexibility to respond to emergencies while using resources efficiently.  

“Some areas of the county have less incidents than others, so we move our firefighters around to help them gain experience in dealing with a variety of incidents in different types of location.  

“Keeping people safe is our priority, we want to prevent incidents from happening in the first place and work in communities to prevent fires, water and road incidents across Essex. Our vital prevention and protection work helps to reduce the risk of fire at home or in the workplace.”   

Chris Parker
Stay connected

Sign up to receive news and updates from Essex County Fire and Rescue Service

Did you find this page useful?

  • Yes
  • No
Incident Reports
Find out more
Service Leadership Team
Find out more

Footer

  • Compliments and Complaints
  • Incident Reports
  • Staff Email access
  • Retired Members Association

Connect with us

  • Follow us on
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin

Footer contact

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters

Kelvedon Park
Rivenhall
Witham
Essex
CM8 3HB

 

Emergencies: 999

HQ Tel: 01376 576000* HQ

Tel: 0300 3035555*

Fax: 01376 570466

 

Do not report emergencies to our HQ. To report an emergency please call 999.

Request a fire report or make a Freedom of Information request here

Make compliments and complaints here

Armed Forces Covenant logoInclusive Employers Standard logo

Footer bottom

  • Accessibility statement
  • Cookies policy
  • Privacy Notice