Volume 3 | Issue 1 | February 2026
Welcome to the latest edition of our Community Newsletter!
Across Dorset and Wiltshire, our firefighters and support teams have been busy protecting lives, strengthening communities, and working behind the scenes to keep you safe. From prevention and education to emergency response, everything we do is driven by one purpose: supporting the people who live and work in our communities. We’re proud to share what we’ve been up to in the last year.
Public consultation underway
A public consultation is underway to gain local views on the proposed closure of up to eight fire stations across Dorset and Wiltshire.
The eight locations under consideration are all on-call fire stations: four in Dorset (Charmouth, Cranborne, Hamworthy and Maiden Newton), and four in Wiltshire (Bradford on Avon, Mere, Ramsbury and Wilton).
Chief Fire Officer Andy Cole said: “No-one wants to close fire stations. As with many public sector organisations, we continue to face significant financial challenges. This is despite our attempts to lobby Government for better funding, and saving over £15 million from our revenue budget since 2016.”
He added: “We understand that people care about what this means for their community. That is why, before the Fire & Rescue Authority make any decisions, we want people to tell us what they think and if there’s anything important that we might have missed. The Authority has not yet decided on these proposals, and all feedback received will help them to determine what is best for Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service.”
The consultation opened on 13 February and runs until Friday 15 May 2026. All of the details, including station-specific data, FAQs and a survey, can be found at www.dwfire.org.uk/proposed-station-closures
During March and April, there will be public meetings in each affected community, together with online dial-in sessions for each location. Details can also be found at www.dwfire.org.uk/proposed-station-closures
An independent consultation company is supporting this process and will produce a report of the consultation outcomes before Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Authority makes the final decision on any station closures at its meeting on Tuesday 30 June 2026.
Round-up of 2025
Our public videos bring our work to life, showcasing the wide range of activities we’ve been involved in — from community events and engagement to incidents we’ve responded to across Dorset and Wiltshire. Published three times a year on our YouTube channel, these videos offer a behind-the-scenes look at how we support and protect our communities.
We invite you to watch our most recent updates here from September 2025 and here from December 2025 to really see our teams in action and what we are about as a Service.
Ramadan 2026
As Ramadan is now underway, we’d like to extend our warmest wishes of Ramadan Mubarak to everyone in our Muslim communities who will be observing this special month.
We appreciate that Ramadan is a time of reflection, generosity, and togetherness, and we recognise the important values it brings to families, workplaces, and communities alike. There is safety advice on our website specifically for the Ramadan period.
We stand alongside you in celebrating this meaningful period and are mindful that routines, schedules, and times of operation may change during the month — something we’re considering as we engage with our communities and support our teams. If you’d like to learn more about how to support friends and colleagues during Ramadan, please click here.
If anyone would like to reach out to us about potentially getting involved in your celebrations of Eid or any other community event where you would like to see your Fire & Rescue Service come and celebrate with you, please click here to reach out using our community engagement page.
Careers Fairs
Throughout 2025, we attended careers fairs across in Poole, Trowbridge and Chippenham, giving us a valuable opportunity to meet the communities we serve and highlight the wide range of careers available within the Service. These events were lively and well attended, allowing us to connect with people of all ages, backgrounds, and experiences.
From young children (and adults!) trying on fire kit and lifting equipment, to open conversations about the many roles, career pathways, and development opportunities we offer, the fairs were full of curiosity, engagement, and two-way learning. They also gave us the chance to challenge common misconceptions about what it means to work in the fire service.
It was also a brilliant opportunity to engage with local employers and highlight the benefits of supporting their staff to become on-call firefighters. These conversations helped raise awareness of the on-call role and generated excellent engagement and interest in on-call recruitment, reinforcing the vital part local employers play in supporting their communities.
We were especially encouraged by the number of people interested in joining us and keen to learn more about careers they may not have previously considered. These conversations reinforced how important it is that our workforce reflects the diversity of the communities we serve, bringing together a broad range of skills, perspectives, and lived experiences.
If you, or someone you know are curious about a career with us, we’d love to hear from you. Whether you’re interested in operational roles, support services, or future development opportunities, there’s a place for you here. Visit our website to explore current and upcoming vacancies and find out how you can help make a difference in your community.
White Ribbon – Working to End Violence Against Women and Girls
As a White Ribbon accredited organisation, we are firmly committed to preventing harassment, abuse, and violence against women and girls (VAWG). This accreditation reflects our determination to challenge harmful behaviours, promote positive cultures, and play our part in creating safer communities for everyone.
We were especially proud to see our Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Dave Waters, featured as one of just 16 men selected to take part in the White Ribbon National Campaign on 25 November 2025. His involvement helped amplify this vital message on a national stage. You can read more about Dave’s story and watch his video here.
In December 2025, we also delivered another highly successful Personal Safety Workshop for our staff. These workshops focus on building confidence and practical skills, including situational awareness, conflict management, personal safety techniques, safeguarding, the importance of reporting concerns to the police, and raising awareness of the critical need to tackle violence against women and girls.
This workshop would not have been possible without the valued support of White Ribbon and Dorset Police. It was encouraging to see colleagues from different teams, alongside partner organisations, come together in a safe and open space to learn, share experiences, and engage with such an important topic. We are a White Ribbon accredited organisation which means we are committed to helping prevent harassment, abuse and violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).
Weymouth Christmas Cracker Day 2025
Watch Manager, David Allan reports about our incredible Christmas Cracker Open Day at Weymouth fire station. It was a huge success from start to finish – beginning with the dramatic rescue of Santa himself to kick things off! (Don’t worry… he was safely returned to his grotto!)
More than 120 children visited Santa, and it was brilliant seeing so many smiling faces throughout the day. His elves even needed rescuing at one point too… all in a day’s work for our crews!
Visitors enjoyed a fantastic range of attractions including:
- Chip pan demonstrations
- Mini fire engine races
- Festive stalls
- A busy BBQ
- An ice cream van
…plus plenty of chances to look around the appliances and chat with our firefighters.
A huge thank you to everyone who came along, supported us, donated, and helped raise funds for The Fire Fighters Charity — your generosity really makes a difference. And of course, massive appreciation to our amazing crews and volunteers who made the whole day possible. Another wonderful event in Weymouth!
Celebrating Pride across the Service area
We recognise that it has been another difficult year for our communities, with rising tensions across our Service area. We want you to know that we stand in support of our communities throughout Dorset and Wiltshire and are here to protect everyone, putting our communities first.
Last Summer, crews right across Dorset and Wiltshire were proud to represent our Service at several local Pride celebrations. These events are more than just an opportunity to engage with communities; they allow us to show solidarity to the LGBTQ+ community and give us the chance to understand more about their lived experiences. Thank you to everyone who allowed us to be part of such fabulous celebrations!
Sherborne Pride
Our Service were excited to be involved in the second Sherborne Pride on 6 July. Watch Manager Stephen Bracher said: “It was a pleasure to be a part of this year’s Sherborne Pride. A fantastic and diverse community event with an impressive turnout from people of all ages and backgrounds.”
Bourne Free
Station Manager Rich Cole attended Bourne Free with Poole on-call and Springbourne Blue Watch firefighters, along with Assistant Chief Fire Officer Dave Waters. They all took part in the Pride parade and had loads of fun. It was a very, very hot day!
Swindon Pride
On 9 August, several staff and crew attended Swindon Pride in GWR Park. We had a fantastic day engaging with and celebrating our LGBTQ+ community. We promoted fire safety and prevention messages, spoke about potential recruitment opportunities and how to join us as well as had a few young ones excitedly try on the fire kit!
Firefighter Liam Waite said that he thought it went amazingly and it was great to be involved with the Pride event and community. He is sure this feeling was reciprocated and looks forward to being involved in future events.
Celebrating our values within our Service
We have been proud to celebrate several internal events at our Service during 2025. In September, we held our inaugural Power of Inclusion event. This included hearing from our Chief Fire Officer, Andy Cole, and Assistant Chief Officer, Jenny Long and a powerful presentation by Councillor Abdul Amin, Fire Authority Equality Lead, about the importance of equality, diversity and inclusion in all that we do.
There were also several interesting and insightful panel discussions with a variety of our operational and corporate staff members and our staff network leads (we have six staff support networks, the Women’s Support Network, the Operational Women’s Group, the Neurodiversity Network, the Minority Ethnic Network, the FirePride (LGBTQ+) Network and the Men’s Support Network).
We also held two virtual staff conferences last year. The first was on 19 November to mark International Men’s Day, and featured engaging presentations including Chris Smith from Man Down (a non-profit focused on men’s mental health) and Luke Medcalf from White Ribbon talking about supporting gender equality. We also heard several moving stories from our own staff and others about the incredible men and boys they know.
The second virtual conference was in December to celebrate the “Women We Live and Work With”, with internal and external speakers sharing their experiences of women’s health, and what this meant for navigating life and a career. It was a brilliant opportunity to listen, learn and ask questions, which can all help us support women colleagues and family members.
We look forward to more events celebrating equality, diversity and inclusion to come in 2026!
Community Requests
We take great pride in connecting with our communities and always welcome opportunities to engage, educate, and inspire. This includes helping to celebrate special occasions and events. To make it easier for schools, external organisations, and members of the public to reach us, we have a Community Engagement landing page on the DWFRS website.
Through this page, you can request one of a range of visits or interventions, including:
- Attendance at a community event
- School or home education group visits
- Pre-school or nursery visits
- Organised children’s group visits
- Fire safety education for children and teenagers to promote safer behaviours
This new resource makes it simple to bring the fire service into your community and help us work together to keep everyone safer, informed, and inspired.
General safety tips for you
We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter. We’ve selected some key tips which we hope will be of use in the coming months:
- Make sure to unplug small devices overnight and don’t overload sockets #UnplugToUnwind – https://www.dwfire.org.uk/safety/safety-at-home/unplug-to-unwind/
- #SaveSafely Keeping safe while cutting costs – https://www.dwfire.org.uk/safety/save-safely/
- As the weather improves, avoid open fires or barbecues in the countryside. Always have them in safe, designated areas. – https://www.dwfire.org.uk/safety/safety-outdoors/heath-fires-and-countryside-safety/
- Getting out in the garden? Stay safe – https://www.dwfire.org.uk/safety/safety-outdoors/bonfires-and-garden-safety/
- Take care when cooking near tents and in caravans https://www.dwfire.org.uk/safety/safety-outdoors/camping-and-caravanning/