County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service

What County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service does

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service (CDDFRS) is a statutory Combined Fire Authority in the United Kingdom delivering emergency fire response, prevention, and protection services across the County Durham and Darlington area. Operationally the service runs from 15 fire stations plus the Belmont headquarters (which houses the 24/7 Fire Control room for 999 call handling), a Technical Services Centre at Bowburn, and a Service Training Centre. The service discharges duties under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the Fire Safety England Regulations 2022, and is subject to annual external audit by Mazars LLP. It is governed by a Combined Fire Authority comprising elected members from Durham County Council and Darlington Borough Council, and is funded through council tax precept rather than commercial pricing.

Service delivery is structured around three integrated lines: (1) emergency response — firefighting, road traffic collision response, and other incidents, delivered by whole-time and on-call crews; (2) community fire safety prevention — including Home Fire Safety Visits, the FireStoppers anonymous arson reporting line, water safety awareness ("Phone, Float, Throw"), arson reduction, and school and partner referrals targeting vulnerable residents; and (3) business fire safety protection — comprising Automatic Fire Alarm management with call questioning, fire risk assessments, enforcement actions, the Primary Authority Scheme providing assured compliance advice, and Residential Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) for high-rise and higher-risk buildings. An online self-service home fire safety check tool is also offered via a third-party platform.

CDDFRS operates a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary, Vital Fire Solutions, which sells training and fire safety products to external customers. Customer segments span residents (free prevention services), businesses (fire safety compliance, Primary Authority Scheme partnerships), and partner agencies / local government (council oversight, coordinated emergency planning). Marketing is conducted primarily through owned digital channels (the corporate website, Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram, RSS) and community outreach events. The service has no disclosed commercial revenue and no private-equity or external funding history.

Name

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service

Legal name

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service

Website

https://ddfire.gov.uk

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service (CDDFRS) is a UK statutory Combined Fire Authority delivering emergency fire response, prevention, and protection services across County Durham and Darlington from 15 fire stations, serving residents, businesses, and partner local authorities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Durham

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Others

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service (CDDFRS) is a statutory public fire authority that delivers firefighting, rescue, and emergency response across 15 fire stations in the County Durham and Darlington area. It provides fire prevention services such as free home fire safety visits, smoke alarm fitting, anonymous FireStoppers reporting, and community safety education, as well as fire protection services for businesses including risk assessments, enforcement under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, Primary Authority Scheme partnerships, and Residential Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs). Operations are funded through council tax and governed by a Combined Fire Authority.

Product overview

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service (CDDFRS) operates as a combined fire authority providing integrated emergency response and fire safety services across County Durham and Darlington. The service operates from 15 fire stations plus headquarters, Belmont HQ (which houses the Control room for 999 call handling), a Technical Services Centre, and a Service Training Centre. CDDFRS offers a unified portfolio of interconnected services: core emergency response capabilities supplemented by prevention programs (Home Fire Safety Visits, FireStoppers anonymous reporting, water safety awareness, community safety education), business fire safety services (Automatic Fire Alarms management, fire risk assessments, Primary Authority Scheme partnerships, Residential PEEPs for vulnerable residents), and on-call firefighter recruitment. The service also maintains a commercial trading arm called Vital Fire Solutions that provides training and fire safety products. All operations are governed by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, Fire Safety England Regulations 2022, and subject to annual external audit by Mazars LLP.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Vital Fire Solutions: Commercial trading arm providing quality training solutions and fire safety products

Products and services

• Emergency Response
• Home Fire Safety Visit
• FireStoppers
• Automatic Fire Alarms (AFA) Service Business fire safety service including call questioning at Fire Control, exemptions for compliant premises, false alarm prevention guidance, and response policies for non-residential premises between 8am-6pm.
• Business Fire Safety Services Comprehensive fire safety compliance services for businesses including fire risk assessments, enforcement actions, Primary Authority Scheme partnerships, and guidance under the Fire Safety Order.
• Residential Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (Residential PEEPs) Regulatory service to improve fire safety of disabled and vulnerable people in high-rise and higher-risk residential buildings through personalized emergency evacuation planning.
• On-Call Firefighter Services Recruitment and management of on-call firefighters who live or work within 5 minutes of one of the service's on-call stations, providing evening, daytime, or weekend cover.
• Partner/Professional Referrals Referral system allowing partner organizations to refer vulnerable individuals for Home Fire Safety Visits based on criteria such as elderly living alone, smokers, poor housekeeping, or frequent portable heater use.
• Water Safety Awareness Public education campaign teaching water safety with the 'Phone, Float, Throw' message, warning against entering water to help others or pets.
• Community Safety Programs Multiple safety education programs including Arson Reduction, Celebration and Candle Safety, Road Safety, Safeguarding, Student Living Safety, and Fire Safety on the Farm.
• Primary Authority Scheme Business partnership program allowing organizations to receive assured, tailored fire safety compliance advice through a single point of contact, with direct and coordinated partnership options.
• Vital Fire Solutions Wholly-owned commercial subsidiary providing quality training solutions and fire safety products to external customers, operated as a separate commercial entity from the public service.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• London Fire Brigade: The UK's largest statutory fire and rescue service, operating under the Greater London Authority. Provides the same statutory functions as CDDFRS but at city-scale with major incident response, large commercial-trading-style activities, and a much broader governance footprint.
• Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service: Larger metropolitan fire authority covering 10 Greater Manchester boroughs. Operates the same statutory duties but at significantly greater scale, with a more urban-resourced service model — relevant as a 'larger established peer' for benchmarking CDDFRS performance and modernization initiatives.
• West Midlands Fire Service: Major metropolitan fire and rescue authority covering Birmingham and the wider West Midlands. Operates a comprehensive prevention-protection-response portfolio similar to CDDFRS but at substantially larger scale — relevant as a comparator for evaluating commercial trading-arm models and digital service expansion.

Direct peers

• Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service: Fire and rescue service operated by Northumberland County Council serving a predominantly rural county directly north of County Durham. Closely comparable in rural-urban mix, station count, and reliance on on-call firefighters alongside prevention and business safety services.
• Cleveland Fire Brigade: Statutory fire authority covering Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, Stockton-on-Tees, and Redcar & Cleveland — geographically bordering County Durham and Darlington. Similar scale, mixed urban-rural coverage, and CFA-style governance structure make it a highly comparable peer.
• Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service: Statutory fire and rescue authority serving the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, directly adjacent to County Durham. Closely comparable in service mix, statutory duties, and Combined Fire Authority governance model — both deliver emergency response, prevention, and business fire safety across North East England.
• Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service: County council-run fire and rescue service covering a large, sparsely populated county with significant rural and wildland-urban interface risk. Comparable in geographic dispersion, on-call firefighter model, and integrated prevention-response-portfolio structure.
• Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service: County council fire and rescue service operating across a predominantly rural, low-density county. Comparable in heavy reliance on on-call firefighters, prevention-led community safety model, and dispersed station network.
• North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service: Statutory FRS covering North Yorkshire — a large, predominantly rural area with a similar mix of market towns and dispersed populations. Comparable in service scope, multi-station infrastructure, prevention focus, and reliance on on-call crewing.
• Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service: Combined fire authority serving Lancashire with a similar mixed urban-rural profile. Delivers the same statutory functions (emergency response, prevention, business fire safety, Primary Authority) and operates on comparable governance and funding mechanics.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CDDFRS
• Facebookfacebook.com/pages/County-Durham-Darlington-Fire-Rescue-Service/245498638943
• Instagraminstagram.com/cddfrs
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/durham-and-darlington-fire-and-rescue-service

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service