HEREFORD and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service continues to deliver high-quality services to its communities, an inspection by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services has revealed.

The regional fire service has been graded ‘Good’ in nine and ‘Adequate’ in only one area. This is an improvement on the previous report in 2023 and a major improvement from the report published in 2021.

The report demonstrates that Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service delivering services across all 10 of the judgement areas.

However, the body will be carefully evaluating the entire contents of the report and seek to find all learning which can be taken from the Inspectors report.

This report also shows a significant reduction in the number of Areas for Improvement highlighted by the inspectorate, with only three areas noted.

This report highlights many areas of good performance, such as how the fires service protects the public through fire regulation, how it is good at preventing fires and other risks, and the service’s response to a wide range of emergency incidents, to how the body trains and develop and lead people.

Chief fire officer Jon Pryce said: “I am immensely pleased to see that the Inspectorate has recognised the improvements we have made across the Service and the incredible work that all our staff do every day.

“This report shows how far the service has come in the last five years and the clearly shows how well the service performs in delivering high-quality response, prevention and protection services across both counties.

Herefordshire Councillor Roger Phillips, chairman for the Fire and Rescue Authority said: “The Fire Authority will now work closely with the chief fire officer and his team to draw out all the learning we can from this report and build upon this success.”