Did you know that every day, during 2016-17, Firefighters responded to an average of 65 emergency incidents across Northern Ireland?

That means that our crews attended a total of 23,740 emergency incidents, 5.7% more than in 2015-16 and our Regional Control Centre handled 36,069 calls, an increase of 7.9% on the previous year.

I am pleased to share details about the significant progress made on two of our major capital projects – the Logistics Support Centre at Boucher Crescent, Belfast and our new Learning & Development Centre at Desertcreat.

Both projects have taken several years to get to this stage but we are finally seeing real progress being made on these much needed new facilities for our organisation.

Recently I’ve been struck by the unique role of middle managers.

Often overlooked, they find themselves tasked with juggling the top team’s hopes and aspirations with the realities of meeting the needs of frontline staff. It’s not an easy position to hold but I believe, and research has shown, that middle managers play a vital role in helping an organisation like ours reach its full potential.

Last week we took a huge step forward in sustaining our Fire and Rescue Service for the future when we launched Wholetime Firefighter recruitment.