An introduction from the Partnerships Manager, Gemma Brook.
The Partnerships and Communities Manager covers the areas of Gwynedd and Ynys Môn, and is responsible for both the Community and Business Fire Safety for both counties.
Gwynedd covers an area of 254,000 hectares, which equates to 12.26% of the land base of Wales and has a population of over 117,000 who are sparsely distributed between the nine main towns of Gwynedd and its rural communities. Gwynedd is a coastal and mountainous area, which includes the Llŷn Peninsula and Snowdonia National Park. The area boasts an environment that is amongst the most beautiful in Britain, and is home to two of the four designated UNESCO World Heritage sites in Wales. The first being the Castles of Caernarfon, Beaumaris and Harlech, and the recently awarded ‘slate landscape’ of north-west Wales, its new status puts it in the same category as the Great Wall of China, India’s Taj Mahal and America’s Grand Canyon as a place of “outstanding universal value”. It is also the home of over 11,000 students whilst they study towards their academic qualifications at Bangor University.
Ynys Môn is often referred to as ‘mam Cymru’ and has a population of over 67,000 with over half of the population speaking Welsh as their first language, it has a land mass of over 200,000 acres and accommodates one of the busiest ports in the UK. Ynys Môn has three main urbanised areas that include Holyhead, Amlwch and Llangefni. The remainder of the county resides a number of small towns and rural areas. The A55 expressway provides an excellent route across the island to and from Holyhead linking the UK to Ireland. Both Gwynedd and Ynys Môn are visited by over 8 million tourists each year, a quarter of which stay in local hotels, B&Bs and hostels.
Resources
Gwynedd consists of over 240 staff members based at 14 fire stations and 2 area safety offices who provide operational, community and business fire safety services. There are two day crewed fire stations based in Bangor and Caernarfon that has a crew on station between the hours of 12.00pm and 10pm, both stations also have retained staff working alongside. There are Retained stations located at Dolgellau, Aberdyfi, Abersoch, Bala, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Barmouth, Harlech, Llanberis, Nefyn, Porthmadog, Pwllheli and Tywyn that provide valuable operational cover in their respective community.
Ynys Môn has over 130 members of staff comprising of operational, community and business fire safety. Holyhead has a day crewed station, which also have a crew on station between 12.00pm and 10pm, and a retained duty system compliment outside and during those times. There are six retained stations based at Amlwch, Beaumaris, Benllech, Llangefni, Menai Bridge and Rhosneigr who also provide valuable cover in their community.
These stations utilise a total of 17 pumping appliances, 8 Special appliances providing a range of specialist equipment for dealing with many different types of incidents from Road Traffic Collisions to water incidents.
Business Fire Safety
Business fire safety has a dedicated compliance manager and three compliance officers, who are located in the area offices at Caernarfon and Llangefni, the team provide a comprehensive service to all areas of Gwynedd and Ynys Môn.
Community Fire Safety
North Wales Fire and Rescue Service is committed to reducing fire deaths and injuries through the provision of community and business fire safety, with particular attention targeting the young, elderly and most vulnerable in these areas.
The Gwynedd and Môn Community Fire Safety team are available to visit and provide practical fire safety advice free of charge including the fitting of FREE smoke detectors in your home. We strongly encourage all residents to ensure they have a working smoke detector fitted.
Partnerships
North Wales Fire and Rescue Service is committed to partnership working with all Local Authority, Public, Private and Voluntary Sector bodies to make our communities safe from fire. This is through sharing our referral system with trusted agencies so that we can allocate resources to provide a free Safe and Well check to the most vulnerable.
Partnership working is an important aspect of Community Safety and we are involved in a number of projects with the Police, Gwynedd and Ynys Môn Councils, Youth Offending Teams (YOT) and the voluntary sector. These projects range from the Phoenix scheme and road safety events targeting youths and young adults, to Community Home Safety fairs that provide fire safety advice to the elderly.
Joint working is extremely effective at achieving our aim to make our communities a safer place to live, work and visit.
Click here to view Gwynedd's CYPP strategy
Click here to view Anglesey's CYPP strategy
Safe and Well Checks
For a free safe and well check call freephone 0800 169 1234, e mail cfs@northwalesfire.gov.wales or phone the Community Safety Office on 01286 662 999.