Bedfordshire's fire crews now meet fitness levels

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service is no longer a cause of concern for inspectors

Firefighters have now met minimum fitness requirements after inspectors previously discovered an issue.

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue was previously found by inspectors to have a "cause of concern".

But staff have now met "minimum fitness requirements to perform their role".

Chief fire officer Andy Hopkinson said their hard work had been recognised by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services.

The service had previously been rated good in understanding risk and fire and required improvement at fire response.

'Hard work and dedication'

The report said: "We were pleased to see the significant efforts Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service has made in response to the cause of concern.

"It has improved the way in which it assures itself that operational members of staff meet the minimum fitness requirements to perform their role."

It said it recognised "the considerable work that the service has carried out to improve" and the cause of concern had been "discharged".

"We will continue to monitor the service's progress as part of our next scheduled inspection of the service," it added.

Mr Hopkinson said: "We are committed to firefighter fitness and are happy the Inspectorate has the reassurance needed to discharge the cause of concern."

He said the report highlighted the "hard work and dedication of our staff and collaborative work with partners to improve the service and we must not forget this".