Kent Fire and Rescue Service
 |
|
| Operational area | |
|---|---|
| Country |
 United Kingdom
|
| Country |
 England
|
| County |
 Kent
|
| Agency overview | |
| Employees | 2,000 |
| Facilities and equipment | |
| Stations | 55 |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
Kent Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service for the administrative county of Kent and the unitary authority area of Medway, covering a geographical area south of London, to the coast and including major shipping routes via the Thames and Medway rivers. The total coastline covered is 225 km (140 mi); it has 55 fire stations, and 4 district fire safety offices. The FRS provides emergency cover to a population of nearly 2 million.
The area meets the boundaries of the London Fire Brigade to the north of the county, Surrey to the north west and East Sussex to the south west of Kent.
The first fire brigade appeared in Kent in 1802 when the Kent Fire Office formed an insurance brigade in Deptford (which was at the time part of Kent). In the same year, and completely separately from insurance companies, Hythe became the first town in Kent to set up its own fire brigade, followed by Ashford in 1826.
By the 20th century, it was quite fashionable for local authorities to have their own fire brigades. Maidstone had seen the formation of its borough fire brigade in 1901 when the Royal Insurance Company provided a new Shand Mason horse-drawn steam fire engine, named The Queen. This company had taken over the Kent Fire Office in the same year, simultaneously disbanding their own brigade. Things often became very competitive between individual town and village brigades, in many instances, each one trying to outdo its neighbour. In 1910, Bromley became the first town in Kent to house motorised fire engines, with two new Merryweather vehicles being stationed there.
...
Wikipedia