Northern Ireland Fire Service Stations Districts Covered

In total NIRFS has 68 fire stations across four areas of command overseeing a region 5,500 square miles in which 1.7 million people live. Over the years fire stations have been built to serve the needs of the immediate area and to offer the best response times possible.

Northern Area
Ballymena, Coleraine, Glengormley and Lisburn are the four district commands, which oversee a further fifteen fire stations under their wing. The area covered spans from Portstewart to Lisburn and Glengormley to Ballycastle. There is also cover on Rathlin island.

Southern Area
The Southern Area Command encompasses a region from Crossmaglen to Armagh on the east to Donaghadee and Portaferry on the West coast. There are 23 fire stations in this area which is split into four districts.
While it is less than half the size of the Western Area Command it holds almost as many people which is reflected by up to 500 staff servicing the area's needs around the clock. District headquarters are positioned at Portadown, Bangor, Newry and Downpatrick. Three of the stations are wholetime with the remaining twenty being home to retained fire service men and women.

Western Area
The Western Area is the largest of the four regions that make up the Northern Ireland Fire And Rescue Service. In total there are twenty stations, each divided into four districts with five fire stations within each district.

The area headquarters for each District are situated at Omagh, Cookstown, Enniskillen & Londonderry. Northland Fire station and Crescent Link are wholetime fire stations with the remaining eighteen being retained. Up to 500 fire men, fire women and support teams manage this area which oversees cities such as Londonderry and Omagh. The area is home to 20% of Northern Ireland's population.

Eastern Area - Central Belfast
Finally, this concentrated area of Belfast has no less than seven fire stations which respond to emergencies in record time. The area is split into two districts with headquarters at Knock and Whitla.

The seven fire stations are, Knock, Central, Cadogan and Dunmurry Fire Stations and Whitla, Westland and Springfield Fire Stations. A part time station, Dunmurry is served by appliances from Cadogan.

Each fire station head quarters is responsible for fire safety in its region, carrying out checks on buildings and ensuring regulations are applied and adhered to at government and private premises across the region. There are also two specialist teams, a marine response team at Whitla and a specialist rescue team resides at Central Fire Station.