Fire and rescue authorities operational statistics: April 2022 to March 2023

These statistics relate to the fire and rescue service between April 2022 and end March 2023. 

An annual update presenting information on personnel, health and safety, operational activities and fire safety visits. 

Fire and rescue authority personnel

There were 2,215 full-time equivalent staff (FTE) and 1,293 retained duty system (RDS) staff employed across the three Welsh Fire and Rescue Authority areas on 31 March 2023. This compares with 2,183 full-time equivalent and 1,279 retained staff on 31 March 2022. Numbers of FTE staff have increased for the fourth consecutive year, up by 6% compared with 2018 to 2019; numbers of RDS staff have decreased by 3% over the same period.

Of the 2,215 FTE staff, over two thirds (1,506) were wholetime firefighters, a similar proportion to earlier years.

Health and safety

During 2022 to 2023, 12.7 shifts/days were lost per person to sickness for wholetime firefighters and 25.1 shifts/days for fire control staff.

There were 74 injuries sustained by wholetime (including day crew) and retained duty system firefighters in the course of operational and training activities.

Operational activities

During 2022 to 2023 fire control handled almost 74,000 calls in Wales, an increase of 4% on 2021 to 2022.

Fire Safety

In 2022 to 2023, Welsh Fire and Rescue Authorities completed 1,966 fire safety audits in non-domestic premises. This represents 2% of known such premises in Wales.

Community fire safety

In 2022 to 2023 the Fire and Rescue Authorities in Wales completed over 40,000 Home Fire Safety Checks; in 74% of these at least one member of the household was identified as displaying a risk.

In 2022 to 2023 the Fire and Rescue Authorities completed almost 12,000 Home Fire Safety Checks that also involved completion of non-fire related prevention activity. Almost 300 resulted in the Fire and Rescue Authorities making an onward referral to another organisation.