It was in 1974 when both the county of Greater Manchester and the service came to being. The service was formerly known as the Greater Manchester County Fire Service but it was changed into its current name to mirror the current responsibilities and tasks of the service as many fire services from all over UK were changing their names into “Fire and Rescue Service.” The cause of the change was the newly approved law for England and Wales which is the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004.
After the 1986 abolition of Greater Manchester County Council that managed the service, it was immediately taken over by the union of the 10 metropolitan districts of Greater Manchester, which is known as the “Fire and Rescue Authority.” The Manchester City Council chooses 5 members, 2 each by bury and Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Councils, and 3 each by the rest of the 7 district councils of Greater Manchester.
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service is in-charge with an approximately 1,280 kilometers square and to 2,500,000 populations. It is a statutory emergency fire and rescue service for the urban district of Greater Manchester, England. The service has 41 operational stations which are split into three areas from South, East and West to 11 County Commands, aligned to the 10 local authorities which are Bolton, Bury, North and South Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan. The headquarters is based at Pendlebury, Salford.
In addition, the service has 2,641 employees, consisting of 2,641 uniformed operational personnel, 64 control room staff, and 403 non-uniformed support staff.
The service is operating 41 fire stations which are all operating 24 hours every day. In Wigan, the fire stations installed are located at Wigan which owns 2 Water tender ladders; Hindley which owns Water Tender Ladder; Atherton which has Water Tender Ladder and an Operational Support Unit; at leigh which owns 2 Water Tender Ladders, Hydraulic Platform and Enhanced Rescue Unit.
In Bolton, the stations are found at Bolton Central which has 2 Water Tender ladders, Hydraulic Platform, High Hose Layer, Pinzgauer 6×6; Farnworth which has 2 Water Tender Ladders, Foam Unit and an Incident Response Unit; and a station at Horwich which is crewed only at day time.
We have stations also in Bury areas: 1 at Bury which owns 2 Water Tender ladders; at Whitefield which owns Water Tender ladder and a Canteen Van; and at Ramsbottom which owns 2 Water Tender Ladders.
The stations at Rochdale are at Rochdale which owns 2 Water Tender Ladders; at Littleborough which owns 2 Water Tender Ladders; and at Heywood which owns 2 Water Tender Ladders, and Water Incident Unit.
Then the stations at Oldham are located at Oldham which owns 2 Water Tender Ladders, and Hyraulic Platform; at Hollins and at Chadderton.
Stations at Tameside are based at Stretford which owns 2 Water Tender Ladders, Hydraulic Platform, and High Volume Pump; at Sale which owns 2 Water Tender Ladders, and Foam Unit; and at Altrincham which has a Water Tender Ladder.
