A FIRE service partnership formed to save money is being celebrated after what bosses said was a successful first year.

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service came into being on April 1, 2016 following over two years of preparation work. It combined the former Dorset Fire & Rescue Service and Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service.

It brought together departments, consolidated assets and identified new ways of working. Savings of around £6 million are anticipated in the coming financial year.

Some of the key statistics from the first six months of the new service include:

* Delivery of 6,254 free Safe and Well visits, taking home fire safety advice to people’s homes

* Fire safety education delivered to 8,982 Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 students.

* Continued support of the SafeWise centres in Bournemouth and Weymouth, contributing to the education of 6,349 young people

* Roll-out of the Alzheimer’s Society ‘Dementia Friends’ training to crews

* Delivery of 43 Safe Drive Stay Alive roadshows for schools and colleges

* Contact with over 1,000 businesses to educate them on fire safety

* Purchase of four replacement fire engines for this financial year, and an order placed for two replacement aerial ladder platforms.

Chief Fire Officer Ben Ansell said: “Given the significant amount of change that the service has been through over the last year, I am incredibly proud of how our staff have continued to deliver on our strategic priorities.

“The days are long gone when the fire and rescue service was only about responding with blue lights and sirens to emergencies; we now have such a key role to play in preventing fires and other incidents from happening in the first place, and really good results are already being achieved.

“We will now build on this good performance to ensure that we continue to make Wiltshire and Dorset better, healthier and safer places to live.”

Cllr Rebecca Knox, Chairman of Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Authority, added: “What we are seeing even before our first year is complete is a high level of joint working and some excellent partnership projects that are benefitting the communities that we serve.

“Another priority of combination was to create a more financially secure environment for providing our prevention, protection and emergency response services.

“Significant savings have been made, as we intended, but we have not held back on investment where it has been needed. We are passionate about changing and saving lives and I am confident that we will continue to go from strength to strength in the coming years.”