South Wales Fire Service

Cardiff, Wales

Back to "Fire Departments Around the World"

In May 2008 my husband David and I took a vacation in Wales. After an overnight flight from RDU to London Heathrow, we took a 3-hour train ride to Cardiff, which is Wales' largest city as well as its capital. Cardiff Central fire station was just a few blocks from our hotel, so on our last night there we paid them a visit. As luck would have it, one of their firefighters was out back washing a vehicle when we arrived. His name was Tristan, and he is one of the full-time firefighters. As I've found in every fire station I've visited around the world, once I told him I was a firefighter he was very welcoming and allowed us to wander around the station to take pictures. Tristan also spent a good deal of time chatting with us about their operation.
The South Wales Fire and Rescue Service has 50 fire stations - 19 staffed with full-time crews, 5 staffed with day-time crews, and 26 "retained" stations (similar to our volunteers in that they are paid on-call, except they get a MUCH more sizeable stipend).
Cardiff Central fire station covers an approximately 5 square mile district with a population of 63,000! When I told Tristan that our district was 60+ square miles with a population of just over 30,000, he commented "Ah, sparse!" Cardiff Central is staffed with 16 firefighters per shift, with four shifts. According to their web site, this station ran over 2000 calls between April 2007 - March 2008; quite a lot when you consider that they do NOT run medical calls.

Similar to our fire service, they also spend a lot of effort towards public education. However theirs takes a bit of a different twist. Tristan explained the reason behind their fire safety slogan "Don't Drink and Fry" - apparently citizens like to go to the pubs and enjoy some liquid refreshment, and then when they get home they get the munchies, and put on a pot of oil to fry up some chips (french fries). Often they pick that time to fall asleep, with the result being a visit from the local firefighters to extinguish the ensuing blaze.

Click the thumbnails to view a larger photo in a separate browser window.

Though everyone speaks English, the native Welsh language is also making a comeback. In the cities, signs were primarily in English with Welsh translations. Once we got out into the rural areas, the signs were primarily in Welsh with English translations.	First-out pumper. They refer to this as a "water tender ladder". This apparatus is equipped with a standard complement of ground ladders, 350 - 475 gallons of water depending on the model, and integrated foam system.	Cymru is the Welsh name for "Wales". Gwasanaeth means "service", Tan is "fire". Hence Gwasanaeth Tan De Cymru literally translates to Fire Service of Wales.
	Aerial apparatus - I believe this one was a stick	Aerial platform

This is Tristan	Training tower on site	Rear view of Cardiff Central station