Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) News

A takeaway franchisee and employer who allowed people to sleep in dangerous conditions, have been fined by a court and ordered to pay £15,400 in costs.  In December 2018 Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) building fire safety inspectors visited Jano Jabbarkhel and Sharbat Khan Jabarkhail at Tops Pizza in Lower Stone Street, Maidstone. prohibition notice They were issued with a prohibition notice to prevent anyone from living on the property, due to safety concerns linked to the la...

Infographics are excited to announce Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) as its latest FireWatch client in a deal that includes the delivery of the FireWatch platform via Microsoft Azure Cloud with SaaS (Software as a Service) and Mobile App access for FRS users. Project details The ‘win’ was secured following a competitive tender award worth around £1m over the term of the contract. The project covers the replacement of Kent’s existing rostering and availability system...

The most significant fires seen in the county so far this summer ignited in Dartford when two simultaneous wildfires resulted in more than 150 firefighters being deployed to tackle flames in record-breaking temperatures. Now, with a second heatwave set to begin, the Met Office has issued a Heat Health Alert for Kent and Medway, and the fire service is again urging the public to do all they can to stay safe and help reduce preventable grass, crop, and woodland fires. Author's quote KFRS A...

Firefighters are urging people living in Kent and Medway to follow simple steps to stay safe during the heatwave, and throughout the summer months.  With soaring temperatures in recent weeks and record-breaking highs forecast for 18 and 19 July, the Fire Severity Index is currently at level 4 'very high', moving to level 5 ‘exceptional’ throughout the day meaning fires could develop and spread rapidly and with greater severity. accidental fires In these conditions, crews...

Kent Fire and Rescue Service is proud to announce during Pride Month, that it’s the first emergency service to achieve the Pride in Care quality standard for its commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). Awarded by the national charity, Opening Doors, the standard is given to organizations that commit to strengthening their inclusion of LGBTQ+ people over 50. comprehensive accreditation process The fire service underwent a comprehensive accreditation process to receive the...

Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) is delighted to announce it has been awarded the Investing in Volunteers (liV) quality standard, in recognition of its commitment to volunteering.  The celebrations also mark the start of national Volunteers’ Week, which begins on 1 June.  recruits; supports and manages volunteers Throughout the process to achieve the accolade, KFRS worked with an IiV assessor to examine how it recruits, supports, and manages volunteers, to ensure they have...

The shrill sound of a smoke alarm is very effective at alerting people when there’s a fire, but what if a person is deaf or has hearing difficulties? That was the concern of 62-year-old Lyn, who lives alone with her assistance dog, Clay, in New Romney. While Clay is excellent at helping out and alerting her when something is wrong, she was concerned about their safety if he was ever poorly and unable to let her know the smoke alarm was sounding.  home fire safety visit She boo...

People living in Kent and Medway can now check if their homes are fire safe in just 15 minutes, thanks to a new online tool. While Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) offers home visits for people most at risk of having a fire, the online home safety checker has been created to give everyone access to a free home assessment and personalized fire safety advice. new online tool KFRS website and residents can work their way through a selection of simple questions The new online tool is availabl...

Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) has received a Gold award for its commitment to inclusivity, diversity, and equality in the workplace. The award is given to companies and public services that are able to show their outstanding support and efforts toward making workplaces more inclusive for everyone. This is the first time KFRS has received the Gold award, and it's been ranked at position 122 in the top employers list. UK Workplace Equality Index The awards and UK Workplace Equality Index...

On-call crews need to live or work within five minutes of a fire station, which makes it a real possibility for those now working remotely, just like Phil Gower. Phil responds to emergencies from Cranbrook fire station during the day, in the evenings, and at weekends as required, including when he’s working from home. Author's quote He said, "My employer is really supportive of my role as an on-call firefighter and understands that in an emergency, there’s somebody out there who u...

Six fire engines and 2,000 sets of personal protective equipment (PPE) have started their journey across Europe to Ukraine.  The de-commissioned fire engines have been donated to Fire Aid by Kent Fire Rescue Service (KFRS), together with a vast array of equipment, including PPE donated by fire and rescue services from across the country. KFRS Supports Fire Aid Mission In Ukraine KFRS Station Manager, Mike Pitney, said: “Last year, hundreds of Ukrainian firefighters worked for weeks...

Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) is at the center of a new initiative to support homeless people and rough sleepers to live safely in temporary accommodations before moving into permanent homes.  With government direction, charities have been working to provide people living on the streets with shelter in hotels and bed and breakfasts during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the fire service recognized the need to offer support and safety advice to those living in new and unfamiliar accommodat...

Residential high-rise buildings in Thanet have become the first in Kent, United Kingdom (UK) to be fitted with new information plates to help navigate firefighters in an emergency.  Information initiative  Invicta House in Margate, and Trove Court and Kennedy House in Ramsgate have external plaques featuring key information about the premises, such as the number of floors, flats, and lifts, as well as the location of water supplies, which could be vital in the event of a fire. ...

Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) has been awarded ServiceMark accreditation by the Institute of Customer Service (ICS), following record feedback from customers and colleagues. It’s the first time a fire and rescue service has achieved this recognition, and it’s a national standard, independently recognizing an organization’s customer service excellence. ServiceMark assessment report The ServiceMark assessment report noted that, KFRS has "turned customer culture completel...

Pegwell Bay Country Park is Kent Wildlife Trust’s largest nature reserve and is of international importance for its bird populations, including nightingales and cuckoos.  However, a number of these animals and their habitats were destroyed when a campfire became out of control at the site, which sits between Sandwich and Ramsgate, and spread across a large area of grasslands and undergrowth.  Kent Wildlife Trust Kent Wildlife Trust has thrown its support behind KFRS campaign t...

Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) is urging smokers to light up outside to reduce the risk of fire in homes across the county. Despite the number of people smoking in the UK falling, Kent is seeing a continuous trend in the number of property fires linked to smoking – with fire crews tackling the equivalent of one smoking-related fire every single week. 'Smoke Outside, Feel Safer Inside' campaign Most often these types of fires start when smokers light up and then fall asleep or get d...

Volunteers are special people, willing to share their time and passion to help others, simply because they care and want to make a difference. Those inspirational individuals form an important part of Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS), working alongside operational crews and office-based teams to help keep communities across Kent and Medway safe. Trying new challenges KFRS is fortunate to have 34 volunteers supporting a range of roles, and now the service is looking to welcome more people...

The community is at the heart of Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS), and on-call firefighters help to strengthen those links by serving the villages and towns where they live and work.  Luke Pritchard is an on-call firefighter based in Faversham, where he lives with his wife and their two young children. Having grown up in the town, the 35-year-old wanted to be a firefighter at his local fire station from a young age and successfully applied for the role four years ago.  Comments of...

A father of three is urging Kent residents to test their smoke alarms once a week, after a fire that left him and his daughter fearing for their lives, destroyed the family home. David Sercombe and his 22-year-old daughter Bronte, were the only ones home on the morning of 18 November, when a fire broke out in the stairwell leading to the basement of the property off Sandling Lane, in Saltwood, Hythe.  Their smoke alarms didn’t sound, and instead, a builder made David aware of smoke...

Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) has become the first UK fire service to receive professional recognition for its extensive incident debrief process. As part of its commitment to continuously learn and improve, the service has made significant and pioneering changes to its formal debrief process, making it more thorough and inclusive of all departments involved in an incident from the first 999 calls both operational and non-operational personnel. CPD recognition In light of the improvemen...

With a career spanning 50 years in firefighting and fire engineering, Paul Grimwood is highly regarded within the fire industry as an expert and pioneer for new operational tactics.  Paul Grimwood, a Principal Fire Engineer at Kent Fire and Rescue Service, has developed a range of revolutionary defenses which have been adopted by fire services across the world while providing support for complex fire engineering consultations, occupancy figures, smoke control calculations, and fire strateg...

Recently, residents at Hoo Marina Park were evacuated from their homes in the early hours of the morning, after a serious fire broke out at a nearby industrial site. Homeowners were woken at around 4.30 am to the sounds of popping, before seeing large amounts of smoke and flames coming from a building just a stone’s throw away in Vicarage Lane.  While over 40 firefighters tackled the blaze, which is believed to have started accidentally due to an electrical fault, around 200 people h...

A rogue landlord who left residents living in a dangerous and illegal hostel in Swanley has been handed two suspended custodial sentences, 300 hours unpaid work, and must pay £8,000 costs. After three years of serving prohibition notices and bringing the case through the courts, Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) together with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), has brought Mustafa Kemal Mustafa, of Briar Lane, West Wickham Bromley, to justice. fire service notices Mustafa was sente...

Firefighters are urging people living in Kent and Medway, and those traveling into the county to enjoy its extensive coastline, to follow simple steps to stay safe this summer and help prevent fires and injuries. Following the sunniest Spring on record in the UK, and the driest May in 124 years, the Fire Severity Index is currently 'very high' meaning fires at this time could develop and spread rapidly and with greater severity. Hazards during summers There are a whole host of hazards that ar...

Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) is calling on Kent residents at home to tune into the first-ever online fire station open day on Thursday 28 May. Aimed at families of all ages, the virtual event has been organized in place of a number of the service’s annual ‘Family Open Days’, which were canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. online open day The online open day will take place from 11 am on Thursday 28 May on the Kent Fire and Rescue Service Facebook page, start...

Firefighters are helping two young girls to spread a little positivity across their community by flying their homemade flag. Crews at Tunbridge Wells Fire Station were presented with the colorful rainbow flag by sisters Kitti, 12, and Iris, 10. The duo, with the help of their dad Rupert, came up with the ‘together apart’ message, with the use of three linked rainbows.  Purpose Rupert said, “We created a flag to encourage social distancing and to celebrate how we can all...

Kent firefighters are supporting their blue light colleagues in the fight against COVID-19 by lending their services to the wider community. Crews and staff at Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) are working alongside South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) to help meet the growing demand for medical response across the county, as a result of the worldwide pandemic.  Firefighters will undergo training before being deployed to drive ambulances, while other KFRS employees have been...

Kent Fire and Rescue Service staff are delivering hot meals to those most in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. Working with Age UK, operational firefighters, and support staff have volunteered their time to help out, and have been taking food to individuals living in Sittingbourne, Faversham, Hythe, and Lyminge. Review with operational needs They are wearing appropriate protective equipment and following strict hygiene protocols to ensure they’re protecting the high-risk customers they...

When Sean Bone-Knell applied to be a firefighter at Kent Fire and Rescue Service in 1984, he was told the window to apply had closed and to try again in a few years. Fortunately, his passion to join the fire service prevailed, and two years later, at 19 years old, his dream came true. Now, 33 years on, having climbed to be the highest-ranking fire officer in the service as Director of Operations, he’s hanging up his helmet for the last time. Sean's career  Sean said, “Being a...

Two family pets sparked catastrophes when they unknowingly turned on hobs with their paws adding to the list of kitchen blazes tackled by Kent firefighters in January. In Sittingbourne, on 28 January, Moss the border collie jumped up at a cooker to reach his owner’s leftovers and turned on three gas rings, two of which ignited and set fire to a cushioned tray left on top of the hob.  Since, Kent Fire and Rescue Service had previously visited the property to carry out a Safe and Well...