Britain: An official handbook > 1966

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BRITAIN: AN OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
Research
FIRE SERVICES
IN NORTHERN
IRELAND
Finance
the fire authorities have been made the enforcing authority for fire pre¬
cautions under a steadily growing number of Acts of Parliament, of which
the most notable are the Factories Act 1961, and the Offices, Shops and
Railway Premises Act 1963. There are provisions relating to fire and fire
prevention in a large number of other Acts with which fire authorities are
concerned, either in their own right as fire authorities or by virtue of the
advisory functions of their fire brigade.
Within brigades, the work of fire prevention is entrusted to a staff of fire
prevention officers. Other sources of advice on fire prevention include the
various insurance companies who advise their policy holders, and the Fire
Protection Association, a non-profit-making body established by the Fire
Offices’ Committee1 as an advisory centre on a nation-wide basis for industry
and the general public on protection of life and property against fire.
Research into all aspects of fire prevention and fire fighting, and in particular
into the relationship between the frequency and severity of outbreaks of fire,
the effects of fire fighting and the provision of protective equipment within
buildings, is undertaken by the Joint Fire Research Organisation under the
general direction of the Fire Research Board. The cost of the Organisation
is shared equally between the Ministry of Technology and the Fire Offices’
Committee who, jointly, nominate the members of the Fire Research Board.
The Organisation operates from a fire research station at which tests are
carried out.
In Northern Ireland the Belfast Corporation controls the Belfast Fire
Brigade and is responsible for the area inside the city boundary, and the
Northern Ireland Fire Authority covers the rest of the country outside
Belfast.
The Belfast Fire Brigade maintains five whole-time stations and has an
establishment of 263 officers and men manning 13 appliances, while the
Northern Ireland Fire Authority has one whole-time station in Londonderry
and 44 other stations throughout the remainder of the area, and an establish¬
ment of 104 whole-time officers and men and 658 part-time firemen, manning
72 appliances.
The Fire Services (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 1963 provides that
the amount of fire service grant payable to the Northern Ireland Fire
Authority should be 50 per cent of the loan charges in respect of capital
expenditure which do not exceed £90,000 and 25 per cent of the amount
(if any) by which the loan charges exceed £90,000, together with 50 per cent
of the first £240,000 of other ne*t expenditure and 25 per cent of the excess
over that amount. Expenditure in excess of the fire service grant is apportioned
among the local authorities liable to contribute to the funds of the Authority.
Under the Fire Services Acts, the Belfast Fire Brigade cannot qualify for
the payment of fire service grant.
1 The Fire Offices’ Committee is representative of some, but not all, of the fire insur¬
ance companies in Britain.