Located on Dryden Road in Gateshead, the station covers several Council Wards; Bridges, Low Fell, High Fell, Saltwell, Deckham and has partial coverage of: Dunston and Teams, Lamesley, Chowdene, Windy Nook and Whitehills, Lobley Hill and Bensham.

 

The station has two fire appliances and one specialist appliance and is staffed by 64 full time firefighting staff and 3 support staff. The staff are the main asset and, in addition to responding to emergencies, undertakes a range of Community Safety (CS) activities that are primarily aimed at preventing fires and deaths and injuries in fires.

 

The station has the support of a district CS department and a district Arson Task Force, (ATF – a collaboration between this Fire and Rescue Service and Northumbria Police). Located at the new station are a dedicated CS team and the Gateshead District Arson Task Force. Additionally a branch of the Young Firefighters Association will be based on the station.

 

The new purpose built community fire station boasts state of the art meeting facilities and lecture rooms that are intended to aid the promotion of community safety message. These facilities will be available for use by all members of the public and those groups who wish to promote a safety message. The entire facility is integrated within a fully functional fire station.

The geographical area served by the station, varies greatly from relatively affluent residential to light and heavy industrial use. It also includes developments on the Gateshead Quays such as the Baltic Arts Centre and the Gateshead Sage in addition to tracts of rural land.

 

The population, based on the 2001 Census, is 67,310 persons who are predominantly from Anglo-Saxon background (94%) with a relatively large ethnic population (6%). There are 31,981 dwellings within the Station area with approximately: -

 

 

Single parents occupy 8.7% of dwellings, with 15.8% single pensioner households. 28.2% of households have dependant children.

 

Levels of unemployment in this area vary from 12.3% for males and 6.3% for females residing within the station area are unemployed. These figures reflect the socio-economic groups residing within the individual neighbourhoods which can be linked to the risk of dwelling fires occurring within the area. This is illustrated in the above map (the red area indicates areas where the risk of having a dwelling fire is well above average, orange is above average, yellow is average, blue is below average and green is well below average).

 

The demographic layout within the Gateshead Council area is changing with the redevelopment of areas such as Beacon Lough, the Sunderland Road area and the Old Fold. Additionally, former ‘brown field’ sites such as Teams, Gateshead Festival site and Dunston Staithes are presently being developed for residential purposes.

 

If you wish to know more about the specific fire service issues in your area and how we intend to address these, details have been included in our Station Plan.