The Re-Formed Fire Services
Following the passage of the Act which transferred fire brigades from the 1,400 local authorities to the State, the Home Secretary has set up at the centre a Fire Council (with himself as chairman) and a Fire Staff (with the chief officer of the London Fire Brigade seconded to be Chief). he has also mapped out the country into fire areas—of which there will be 32 in England and Wales outside the London Region—each with its fire force under its fire force commander. The country's separate fire forces will thus be reduced to about one-fiftieth of their previous number. The boundaries of the 32, it is said, have been drawn on strictly practical lines, ignoring the frontiers between counties wherever anything was to be gained by doing so. They do not, however, ignore the Civil Defence Regions, in each of which the supervision of the fire forces will be in the hands of the Regional Commissioner. To discharge this function- each Regional Commissioner will have at his headquarters a fire staff under a fire staff officer, but the supervision thus exercised will, it appears, be only administrative, not executive. There seems a good deal to be said for appointing a regional fire officer with executive powers over all fire fighting in the region. Subject to that omission the scheme seems adequate. The Home Office cannot be accused of evolving it rapidly—nearly six months have passed since the notable fire-attack on the City of London.
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