News and events

As part of the rollout of 13 new fire engines in Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service's fleet, three were wrapped with graphic designs relating to important safety topics.

Wildfire prevention

Darwen has a new fire engine depicting our wildfire prevention imagery and key messages.

Blackburn with Darwen is regularly among the top four districts in the county in terms of wildfire incidents and two of the county’s risk sites are located within the borough.

Darwen Moor was also the site of a large fire in 2020 which burnt across 5km of moorland. It was caused by a spark from a barbeque which members of the public could not extinguish.

The area is now protected by a public space protection order which bans the use of barbecues, campfires, stoves, fireworks, and paper lanterns.

Click here to learn more about wildfire prevention.

Charging lithium-ion batteries safely

Blackpool has received an e-charging themed fire engine as part of our new campaign on the risks associated with rechargeable batteries.

In Lancashire, there has been a year-on-year rise in battery related fires over the last three years, and three quarters of them involved a charger.

Blackpool had the most incidents in 2022-23 and sadly experienced a fatal fire involving an e-scooter battery.

The e-scooter was left charging in a home and exploded, blocking the escape route and causing the death of one person and injuring two others.

Our prevention campaign on this issue began in 2022 and has developed each year since. In Lancaster, 43 bin wagons also display the same artwork following a collaboration with Lancaster City Council.

Click here to learn more about rechargeable batteries.

On-call firefighter recruitment

At Nelson, on-call recruitment is the focus of their new fire engine.

This fire engine is one of the many workstreams linked to the on-call duty system review, which aims to improve recruitment, development, retention and ultimately pump availability.

We have also introduced a bespoke on-call recruitment van which is used by crews in local areas to drive recruitment at on-call stations.

You should see the vehicles out and about in the coming weeks while our spring recruitment campaign is underway, ahead of applications opening on 17 June.

Click here to learn more about being an on-call firefighter.

Growing our wrapped fleet

These pumps join our existing wrapped vehicles which include the LGBTQ+ fire engine located at Bispham.

Preston’s remembrance pump has also been replaced with another in the same design. The vehicle is designed to demonstrate support for all members of Lancashire's armed forces community both past and present.

The fire engine features the image of four soldiers stood within a poppy field paying their respects.

The silhouettes represent soldiers from the British, Indian and West Indian Armies, and the Gurkhas. It also features a war ship and aeroplanes paying tribute to those who have served in the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy.

The phrase 'We will remember them' is displayed in homage to the Lancashire poet Laurance Binyon's poem 'For the Fallen', from which the famous verse beginning 'They shall not grow old' is taken.