Staffing and Roles Fire and Rescue

(For the purpose of this request, 'practical training' refers to scenario-based, simulation, or live exercise activities, as opposed to purely theoretical or classroom-based training) 

 

Staffing and Roles 

1. What is the total number of wholetime firefighting staff in your brigade, including ranks? 



2. Do you have a designated training and exercising manager for wholetime operational staff (or a general operational firefighting training and exercising manager)? 

a. If yes, what are their relevant qualifications or training credentials? 

b. When was the role established? 

c. Is it a permanent, full-time position? 



3. Is there a designated budget for wholetime crew training and exercising? 

a. If yes, what percentage of the overall department budget does this represent? 

 

Training Policy 

4. Are there policies or procedures in place to ensure operational cover for uninterrupted training for wholetime crews (e.g., operational cover during exercises)? 

a. If yes, please provide a copy of the relevant policy if possible. 

b. If not, is training typically conducted during normal working shifts with potential for interruptions? 



5. Has your service piloted or implemented any digital/simulation-based tools for wholetime firefighting training or exercising, including virtual reality technologies? Please give details if yes. 

 

Practical Training Participation

 

Between 31st July 2023 to

31st July 2025: 

6. How many times have wholetime crews participated in practical training exercises involving only their own station? 



7. How many times have wholetime crews participated in practical training exercises involving other departments or teams within your brigade? 



8. How many times have wholetime crews participated in practical training with other fire brigades? 



9. How many times have wholetime crews participated in practical training with other agencies, such as Police or Ambulance services? 

I can confirm that the information requested is held by Lincolnshire County Council. I have detailed below the information that is being released to you. 

1. Area Manager: 3

Brigade Manager: 3

Crew Manager: 44

Firefighter: 66

Group Manager: 8

Station Manager 20

Watch Manager: 27

2. We have an operational training department, comprised of the following roles:

1x Group Manager – Operational Training

4x Station Managers – Operational Training

10x Watch Managers – Operational Training

3x Emergency Response Driver Trainers

a. TAQA

PTLLS

BAi

CFBTi

RTCi

PPVi

HVRi

ARi

DD-IC

COBRAi

b. These roles are permanent within our establishment.

c.  Yes

3.  The CRMP states the organisational development budget is £2,381,607. This includes the whole department wages as well as training delivery costs.

a. As above.
 

4. Yes, for whole time crews, training is typically conducted during normal working hours.

5. Yes, piloted 360 videos for training packages, VR and AR, 4D modelling of buildings and use of videos.

6.Total: 0

No exercises in the date range were recorded as being conducted solely by a single wholetime station. This is because formal practical exercises (Risk, Themed, Structured, Service and qualifying Command exercises) are typically designed as multi-pump or multi-station activities to replicate realistic operational conditions, develop command and control, and meet the service’s exercise planning requirements.

In addition to these formal exercises, local stations do conduct their own station-based training in line with the service training cycle (e.g. drills, BA sessions, RTC practice, skills maintenance). However, these local training sessions are not classified as “exercises” within the Service Exercise Plan and are therefore not counted within this return.

7. How many times have wholetime crews participated in practical training exercises involving other departments or teams within your brigade? 

Total: 6

These exercises involved wholetime crews working alongside other internal LFR departments or teams such as Control, Organisational Training, Protection, Prevention, Health & Safety or Service Assurance.

This also includes multi-station exercises within LFR where more than one station participated.

Exercises counted here include divisional Risk/Themed/Structured exercises, Service-level exercises and Command exercises where crews were present alongside internal departments.

8. Total: 12

These exercises involved wholetime crews participating alongside other UK Fire & Rescue Services.

This includes both:

• Neighbouring services (e.g. Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Humberside)
• National resilience / USAR / Zone / multi-FRS exercises (e.g. Merseyside FRS, regional joint training events)

9.Total: 14

These were multi-agency exercises where wholetime crews trained alongside external partner organisations.

Examples include:

• Multi-Agency Incident / MTA exercises
• Exercises with EMAS, Police, HART, NARU
• RAF / military site incidents
• Environment Agency / flooding or environmental risk exercises
• Hospital or care facility-based exercises involving external partners
• Service-level or national multi-agency exercises