Essex County Fire and Rescue Service

Thank you Stanley 🫶 Incident Commander, Nick Singleton said: "In the middle of a long and challenging callout, Stanley’s kindness gave all of us a real boost. "Working in full firefighting kit on a hot summer’s day is no easy task, and his thoughtful gesture was a timely and much-needed morale lift for the whole team. It’s heartwarming to see such compassion from someone so young, and we were all genuinely touched. "Stanley reminded us of the strong community spirit that underpins everything we do.”

Today, we joined fire and rescue services from across the country in paying tribute to Firefighter Martyn Sadler as his funeral took place in Bicester, Oxfordshire. Colleagues across the service held a minutes' silence at 10:45am and flags at stations were lowered to half mast. Our thoughts are with Martyn's loved ones, friends and colleagues.

We were proud to host the 2025 Asian Fire Service Association (AFSA) Summer Conference at Colchester United Football Club JobServe Community Stadium, bringing together voices from across the UK to explore how inclusion can be embedded into every part of the fire and rescue sector. Under the theme “Inclusive by Design”, the two-day event sparked powerful conversations on leadership, trust, community engagement, and cultural change with keynote speakers including Neil Basu QPM, Professor Paresh Wankhade, Phil Garrigan, and many more. From tackling violence against women and girls to showcasing inclusive youth programmes, the conference highlighted how listening to our communities leads to smarter decisions and stronger outcomes. As our Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive Rick Hylton said: “Inclusion isn’t optional. It must be built in from the start. When people feel heard, seen and respected, we build the kind of trust that ultimately saves lives.” We’re grateful to AFSA and all our partners for helping us lead this national conversation and for reminding us that inclusion is a foundation for how we lead, serve, and grow. Phil Garrigan Harjit Singh DL Lynne Elliot Professor Paresh Wankhade FAcSS

We're at Essex Pride in Chelmsford today! Pop along and see out team of event volunteers who are at Central Park to get safety advice, find out about what its like to work for our service and keep all of our communities safe. We're making Essex safer together 🏳️🌈

Celebrating excellence across Essex County Fire and Rescue Service 🚒 This week, we honoured the incredible individuals and teams making a real difference in our communities at the People Awards 2025. With over 100 nominations, the evening highlighted dedication, innovation, and compassion across our Service. Among the winners: 🏅 Firefighter of the Year – Chris Allen, for championing mental health and wellbeing through his role as a TRiM Coordinator. 🏅 Support Colleague of the Year – Steve Sebborn, whose creative Workshop Wednesday campaign reached over 512,000 people and inspired firefighter recruitment. 🏅 Operational Colleague of the Year – Scott Ford, for leading inclusive and impactful community safety initiatives. 🏅 Watch/Station/Team of the Year – Clacton Fire Station, for their outstanding work reducing arson in partnership with local agencies. 🏅 Pride of Essex Fire – Waltham Abbey and Loughton Stations, for transformative outreach tackling isolation and hardship. 🏅 Inspirational Leader – Dave Farrant, for exemplary leadership during a critical incident. 🏅 Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award – Scott Fretton, for driving inclusive recruitment and training in our apprenticeship programme. Outstanding Achievement Awards were presented to: Firefighter Nigel Hunter (Brentwood and Maldon), Harry Murray (Fleet Workshops Mechanic), and Firefighter James Allan (Colchester) — who travelled to Ukraine as part of the FireAid convoy. Firefighter Nick Walton (Waltham Abbey), for his unwavering dedication, resilience, and service. 👏 We also celebrated our Urban Search and Rescue Team for their international deployments, receiving an Outstanding Contribution Award. A huge thank you to all our winners, nominees, and sponsors who made this night possible.

Victory for Team ECFRS! 🏆🚒 Our Extrication team travelled to Surrey Fire and Rescue Service's training centre in Reigate to compete in a UKRO regional challenge — facing off against ten top teams from across the region. The event is a 'rescue challenge' and is a chance for emergency services to share techniques across all rescue disciplines. We’re incredibly proud to announce that we took home 1st place overall, also topping all three individual disciplines: 🏅Best Technical Team – Kelvin Tuckwell, Andrew Edwards and Kevin Bloomfield 🏅Best Medical Team – Jeremy Tuckwell and Alex Hough 🏅Best Officer in Charge – Scott Ford 🏅Best Overall Team – Essex County Fire and Rescue Service 👏A huge congratulations to everyone involved!

🎉We’re proud to celebrate a royal honour! 🏅 Community Safety Officer Dr Muhammad Ahsan has been awarded the British Empire Medal in the King’s Birthday Honours 2025 for his incredible work in inclusion, diversity and community safety across Essex. From mosque visits to interfaith events with the Jewish community, and launching a UK-wide Ramadan guide, Muhammad’s work is truly inspiring. 👏Congratulations, Muhammad – and thank you for making our communities safer and stronger every day!

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there! While many of our team members are hard at work today (because the job doesn’t stop), some are lucky enough to bring their kids along for the ride 🚒 Here's Group Manager Mark Eaglestone with his son Archie, Station Manager Rick Williams with his son Harry and Station Manager Kim Polley with his daughter Madison. They have all recently joined the Service to make Essex safer, just like their dads ❤️

Today, we join our fire and rescue colleagues across the nation in mourning the tragic loss of Firefighter Jennie Logan, of Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service. Our thoughts are with her family, friends, and colleagues at this incredibly difficult time. As a mark of respect, we will be observing a minute's silence today, and our flags will fly at half-mast in honour of Jennie’s service and sacrifice.

Today marks the eighth anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire. Our thoughts are with the families, friends and loves ones of the 72 people who lost their lives and those who continue to be affected by the tragedy 💚