Announcement of Appointment

A key member of the IFE, Kevin Arbuthnot, currently Deputy Chief Fire Officer, West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, has been appointed by the Fire Service College as Head of Command and Control Strategic Development.

The position has been developed in partnership with the New Dimension Programme. Kevin retires from the Fire Service in April this year and will take up his appointment at the College on 1st May 2006. This appointment is central to the development of the College's Centre for Leadership and New Dimension's silver and gold commander training.

The main purpose of Kevin's role will be to provide strategic direction on the development of command and control doctrine and operational practice for the UK Fire and Rescue Service, and to lead the stewardship of the National Incident Command System, ensuring standards are reviewed, monitored and quality assured. This will include developing criteria for the assessment of command competence at key levels, crew; operational (bronze); tactical (silver); strategic (gold).

Kevin will provide advice and guidance to the College Board. He will advise on the development of command and control courses and modules required by students progressing through the development programmes and lead the strategy development for the Multi-agency command and control training, liaising with CFOA, LGA and the 5 Emergency Service Colleges. This will provide a really good opportunity to create a FRS command and control network to share good practice, continuous learning and operational improvement throughout the service.