Our Local Fire Service

Tim Spring is the Station Manager at Redhill fire station. He joined the fire service at the beginning of 1988 and has worked at Redhill since 2002.

His first fire as station manager was a big blaze on Upton Heath. He enjoys the variety of incidents that the station "ground" seems to generate but more than anything else describes the engagement with the local communities of North Bournemouth as the most fulfilling part of the role.

Red Hill Park Fire Station is the local station for the community of Winton. The building was opened in 1960 and took over from the earlier Winton Fire station in Wimborne Road. The old fire station was opened in 1927 and is currently used as a store house. See pictures of it on our then and now page and read the history.

Currently the fire station's team attends around 1500 incidents per year. These calls cover a whole spectrum from house fires to heath fires and road accidents.

Winton itself is a very safe place to live and although it makes up around a fifth of the fire station's ground only around 10% of the dwelling fires for the station have occurred in the area over the last five years.

There are three vehicles kept at the station - one frontline appliance that is available 24 hours a day 365 days per year, a spare appliance that is available to replace any that need repair in the county and an operational support vehicle which carries additional equipment and internal deliveries around the county.

The station also has a breathing apparatus training facility, which is used by crews from Redhill and surrounding stations.

Responding to emergencies is only a very small part of the service the station offers to the local community and one of the main aims of the fire service is to prevent incidents through partnership working and education.

Over the past three years all school children in North Bournemouth have been offered fire safety education talks at years 2, 5 and 7. These are delivered by fire fighters from Redhill working in partnership with local schools. They start with an introduction to the service and heathland at year 2, the problems created by hoax calls at year 5 and home fire safety and escape plans at year 7.

Working with Bournemouth Borough Council, the crews from the station have also been engaging with young people through youth club visits.

Arson remains the station's biggest challenge with a number of initiatives being rolled out over the last three years. These have had a significant effect with a sharp decline in both car and heathland fires as a result.

The protection of the public in their own homes is a primary concern of the service and over the past year the station has been able to offer fire safety advice to occupants in their own homes. In many cases occupiers have been provided with smoke detectors as a result of the home fire safety risk check. These have been supplied and fitted free of charge by the service. The appointment has been made at the occupier's convenience - this has been at anytime and not restricted to office hours. Many of the visits have taken place over the weekends, as the crews are always available (subject to fire calls).

The examples listed above are only a snapshot of the many initiatives and partnerships that the service is involved in. The personnel at Redhill are striving to make the station more community focused and are actively looking for opportunities for community groups to make use of the facilities and resources available.

If you have a community group that may benefit from a talk on the fire service and home fire safety or you would like to make an appointment to have a home safety risk check. Please contact Tim Spring on 01202 526847.

For online advice on fire prevention and safety, visit the Dorset Fire and Rescue Service website.