It is hard to believe that we are almost at the end of 2022, where does the time go? And it goes without saying that this year has been another incredibly busy year. I often say that when people work for an emergency service, the 'extraordinary becomes the ordinary' and this year once again has proved that time and time again. The heatwave during the summer saw many fire and rescue services at their busiest in decades. We were involved in organising four convoys to assist firefighters in Ukraine and we had the sad passing of Queen Elizabeth II. However, let me thank each and every one of you for your continued work over the past 12 months; without your dedication we would not have a Fire and Rescue Service which so many people hold in such high esteem. The public are rightly proud of you and that is down to the service they receive each and every day. If we look back to July when the heatwave hit, the impact on fire and rescue services was relentless. Thousands upon thousands of calls were taken by control room staff, ensuring help got to where it was needed as quickly as possible. I was giving regular updates to government and hourly reports were being provided to ministers. Services were stretched to the limit but coped admirably under the pressure. At one stage, 15 services declared major incidents. I had never seen demand like it; and I would like to give my thanks to firefighters, control rooms, officers and support staff who worked tirelessly in difficult conditions and extreme heat.
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