The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service (HIWFRS) is the statutory fire and rescue service for the county of Hampshire, including the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth, and the county of the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England. The service was formed on 1 April 2021 from the merger of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service and the Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service. The service's chief fire officer is Neil Odin.
History
Hampshire Fire Service
Until the Second World War, local towns had their own fire services run by parish or rural borough councils. In 1941, these were combined into the National Fire Service with Hampshire being served by fire forces 14 and 16. The Fire Services Act 1947 disbanded the National Fire Service and created county-level fire services with Hampshire Fire Service being formed in April 1948, inheriting 50 stations. Many meetings and discussions were held prior to the service's creation by the Hampshire County Council fire service committees, to discuss who would be appointed the role of Chief Fire Officer and how the service would be structured. The service would be divided into four districts (later divisions) lettered A-D and initially centred on Aldershot, Fareham, Winchester and Lyndhurst respectively.
Initially the service's headquarters were based at Litton Lodge in Winchester with the control room at the Winchester Fire Station although the service was originally hoping to use and acquire North Hill House, also in Winchester, for usage as the headquarters. North Hill House was still desired by the Admiralty however and it was only in May 1948 when the admiralty gave up the premises that freed the building to be used by the service as their headquarters and control room which they occupied on 20 September 1948. Twenty years later in 1968, the service headquarters and control room moved to a floor of the newly constructed Ashburton Court, Winchester, the headquarters of Hampshire County Council.
Hampshire Fire Brigade
Following the passing of the Local Government Act 1972, some areas near Christchurch in the south west of Hampshire were ceded to Dorset and the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth became non-metropolitan districts. Subsequently, the newly renamed Hampshire Fire Brigade absorbed Southampton Fire Brigade's and Portsmouth City Fire Brigade's fire stations on 1 April 1974. Portsmouth became part of division B and the division headquarters moved to Copnor while Southampton became part of division D headquartered at Redbridge. Talks existed in 1973 of the Isle of Wight also merging at this point and becoming division E, however lobbying resulting in the island keeping their status as a county.
Since 1980, the service has occupied the former North End School building in Eastleigh with the site becoming home to the control centre, headquarters and training centre and fully completed in December 1984; the site was officially opened by Elizabeth II on 22 March 1985. Since 2015, the site has also been the headquarters of Hampshire Constabulary, the first shared police and fire headquarters in the country.
Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service
The service changed its name once again in September 1992 to Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service. On 1 April 1997, responsibility for the service was transferred from Hampshire County Council to the newly formed Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority as local government changes created Southampton City Council and Portsmouth City Council as unitary authorities. The new Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority was created so it could act as the combined authority for the three council areas and consisted of a board made up on councillors from all three councils proportional to the size of the area served.