Whether you are a member of the public, a journalist, from another fire and rescue service or external agency, you may wish to get in touch with us. Please use the form below and we will try our best to respond to you as soon as possible.

If you are a journalist wanting to find out information about incidents during evenings and weekends, please contact your local station who may be able to provide you with the information you need. Should you need to contact the duty press officer in an emergency, please send a direct message to Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service’s Twitter account – @LancashireFRS

​​​​If you wish to use the form to make a complaint or compliment, please also read the information at the bottom of this page.​

Please do not report emergencies here. Ring 999 immediately. 

    Alternatively if you want to call us – you can ring our Switchboard number – 01772 862545​​​​

    Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) strives to provide the best service to our communities. However, there may be times where we do not meet expectations. Complaints are very important to us because they help us to review what we do and make improvements to our services, policies and procedures if necessary.

     

    Definition of complaint

    A complaint is an expression of discontent or concern by a member of the public made about the standard of service, conduct, or actions or inaction of Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service

     

    How to complain

    The Service may receive complaints in writing or verbally (over the telephone or in person), at anyone of the fire stations or anywhere where employees are working and available to the public.​

     

    What happens once we receive a complaint

    When a person makes a complaint the first approach to resolving a complaint will be to deal with it informally and where possible, directly with the person. Where the complaint is made by e-mail the first stage will be to contact the complainant to establish contact details to enable the initial verbal discussion to take place. The most appropriate manager on duty at the time the complaint is received will seek to resolve the complaint at this stage. Where this is achieved, no further action is required and the complaint will not be recorded as a formal complaint but will be logged.

    Formal complaints are forwarded to a Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service senior manager, who will send a written acknowledgement to inform the complainant that the matter will be investigated and to expect written details of the outcome.

    The senior manager will refer complaints for investigation within five working days of receipt by LFRS to an Investigating Manager who will contact the complainant within that five working days, giving their name and contact number. The points made by the complainant will be looked into as a matter of urgency and that a full response will be given within 20 working days from the initiation of the investigation by the Head of Service Development Department.

     

    Appeals mechanism

    If the complainant is not satisfied with the outcome of the complaint as advised, an appeal mechanism is provided via the Deputy Chief Fire Officer (DCFO). In the event of an appeal, the complainant will be given a written decision of the appeal outcome and related explanation for the decision. This will be provided as soon as reasonably practicable and the DCFO will advise of the likely time for consideration based on the issue/s in question. The anticipated timescale for a response will be communicated to the complainant. Should a complainant so wish, they may direct their appeal to the Local Government Ombudsman in the first instance as an alternative to the above mechanism.

     

    Making a complaint about a Combined Fire Authority Member

    Under section 27(2) of the Localism Act 2011 the Authority must adopt a code of conduct that governs the conduct of members and co-opted members. Therefore, at the Lancashire Combined Fire Authority meeting held 18 June 2012, a new Member Code of Conduct was approved; which took effect from 1 July 2012.

    The procedure for dealing with any complaints against members of the Lancashire Combined Fire Authority who may have breached the provisions of the Code is a separate procedure to complaints against members of Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service.

    If you want to complain about the conduct of a member or members of the Lancashire Combined Fire Authority you must submit your complaint in writing to: –

    The Monitoring Officer
    Lancashire Combined Fire Authority
    C/o Lancashire Fire & Rescue Headquarters
    Garstang Road
    Fulwood
    Preston
    PR2 3LH

    The Monitoring Officer can only deal with complaints about the behaviour of a member and will not deal with matters that are not covered by the Code of Conduct.

    The Code of Conduct can be accessed here​​​ (opens document).