The Fire Authority ...
                   ... understanding who controls the Fire Service
 
For ‘County Fire Brigades’ the responsibilities of the fire authority is assumed by a ‘Public Protection Committee’. However ‘Metropolitan Fire Brigades’ such as the ‘West Midlands Fire and Civil Defence Authority’, are made up of a joint board consisting of members from relevant local councils. The West Midlands Board has several councils, and the number of representatives on each is based on population.

The number of representatives for the joint board of the West Midlands is shown below:
 

 
The fire authority discuss major changes in brigade policy including allocation of finance as money to pay for all fire brigades comes from central government and local rates such as council tax.
 

The West Midlands area ...
                               ... who do we serve?
 
The ‘West Midlands Fire Service’ covers an area of 347 square miles, with a population of 2.6 million people, employing 3,000 people; 2,000 of which are firefighters. There are 41 stations covering five divisions. With a fleet of over 60 pumping appliances, 10 aerial appliances and over 10 special appliances which include: