We wouldn’t be able to respond to the 52,000 emergencies we deal with every year without the help of our Support teams. Our firefighters may be the ones who attend the incidents, but the vital work that goes on behind the scenes is just as crucial in helping us to save lives. The following will give you a brief overview of what our Support teams do:
Working in the Control Room at Brigade Headquarters, this team is responsible for receiving ‘999’ emergency calls. These can range from minor grass fires to major incidents and often involve close co-ordination with the Police and Ambulance Services.
Broadly speaking, this team looks at ways to make Greater Manchester a safer place to live. They have four key areas of focus: Arson, Unsociable Behaviour, Safety in the Home, and Fire Risk Reduction.
As well as helping to promote the work of the service through local media, including TV, radio and newspapers, this team distributes messages and information to people within the organisation.
This team manage the payroll for all the service’s employees, control the annual budgets for the service (which run into millions of pounds), and provide general financial advice to department managers.
A very important team. Ultimately they’re responsible for looking after the welfare and development of everyone within the service. And when you consider how different the needs of a firefighter are to those of our IT team, that’s quite some challenge.
Throughout the service we use, and rely on, a wide range of communications technology - everything from the phone system that enables us to take ‘999’ emergency calls, to the radios our firefighters use when attending an incident. This team is responsible for making sure that technology stays in perfect working order.
With 41 stations, a Brigade Headquarters, a Technical Service Centre and a major training centre, we have quite a substantial property portfolio. Our Property Management team are responsible for making sure they’re all well looked after.
As the title of the team suggests, they look after our fleet of vehicles – including our fire engines. They have a big workshop in Leigh, where they carry out a lot of their maintenance - testing all equipment and providing a repair service to keep everything in good working order. They also get involved in the design of new vehicles and equipment, to ensure we continue to meet the changing needs of the communities we serve.