The Isles of Wight Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue services of Isles of Wight located off the coast of South England. It covers an area of 380 kilometers square and a population of 140,000.
Last March of 2007, a proposal of merging the service to Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service was strongly opposed and rebutted by the Isle of Wight Council and thus it maintained its independency until today.
But in February 2009, there was an announcement of transforming the part-time stations to full-time stations and this is a three year £8 million replacement program. Although there majority of the stations will be converted into full-time, there are also part-time stations that will retain their status as is.
Recently, the service was rated with a 3 star out of 4 and this is the result of the 2nd-star rating in 2006.
There are 10 stations installed all over the area and only 1 station is operating on a fulltime duty system, which means that it is open 24 hours daily, 365 days, and this is in Newport. The remaining stations are crewed by retained firefighters who live nearby the stations so they can come over within 5 minutes after a call is received. The stations are in Cowes, East Cowes, Ryde, Bembridge, Sandown, Shanklin, Ventnor, Freshwater, and in Yarmouth.
The main station is in Newport and is headed by Chief Fire Officer Paul Street.
