50 years of us

Before 1974, there were various local fire brigades operating across the UK. The Fire Services Act 1947 had established 148 county council and county borough-run fire brigades.

The introduction of the Local Government Act in 1974 reshaped fire services, meaning many fire brigades were merged and renamed, emphasising local governance and organisational changes while ensuring effective fire response.

Pre-1974, Stoke on Trent Fire Brigade covered, in the majority much the same area as the current Stoke on Trent City Council. Burton on Trent County Borough Fire Brigade covered the town of Burton and Staffordshire Fire Brigade covered the rest of the County of Staffordshire.

There were 27 stations, which included Aldridge Fire Station, also the location of Staffordshire Fire Brigade Training School. It then subsequently moved into the newly formed West Midlands Fire Brigade.

There were three other County Borough Fire Brigades at that time; Walsall, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton which became part of the West Midlands Fire Brigade. Prior to earlier Local Government reorganisation of 1966 a number of stations in these Brigades had been part of Staffordshire Fire Brigade.

Following the reorganisation, Stoke on Trent became part of Staffordshire County Council and the service was a department of the Council. In 1997, further changes meant Stoke on Trent became a Unitary Authority and so left County Council administration. The Fire Service structure remained unchanged but became a Combined Fire Authority with elected members from both the County and the City sitting on the Authority. This changed again in 2018 when the Governance of the Service became the responsibility of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner. Again, the Service structure remained unchanged.

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service now covers the entirety of Staffordshire including the City of Stoke on Trent with 33 fire stations and a headquarters site. There is also a joint emergency transport hub, shared with Staffordshire Police for the servicing of vehicles and West Midlands Fire Service provided a shared control room for answering all 999 calls.