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West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service (WSFRS) has appointed Gary Ball as its new Interim Chief Fire Officer (CFO).
Gary will take up the role on an interim basis for the next two years as the service prepares for devolution and local government reorganisation.
WSFRS was left in need of a new CFO after Sabrina Cohen-Hatton was appointed the top job at Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service.
Gary is currently the West Sussex’s Deputy Chief Fire Officer, having previously served as Assistant Chief Fire Officer and Area Manager for Service Delivery. He joined WSFRS in 2017 as a Station Manager, and has since led a number of significant projects within the service, such as implementing the service’s improvement plan following inspections from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). Under the plan, there have been huge improvements in the service’s transformation journey, including the introduction of the Performance and Assurance Framework which provides structure and governance arrangements to ensure that statutory obligations are being suitably scrutinised and delivered. As Area Manager for Service Delivery, Gary worked with firefighters to create the service’s new day-crewing model – a key priority set out in the fire service’s Community Risk Management Plan.
Nationally, Gary has previously been seconded to HMICFRS, and is currently the National Fire Chiefs Council’s (NFCC) Lead for on-call Practitioners Group, which has seen him set a ground-breaking new project in motion around retained firefighter recruitment.
“I am incredibly humbled to have been appointed as the Interim Chief Fire Officer of West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service and am thoroughly looking forward to leading the service forward as we enter this period of devolution and local government reorganisation. WSFRS has an incredibly proud history dating back to 1948 when the service was formally established, and I am very honoured to have been entrusted to lead the service forward into this exciting new chapter.”
Gary Ball, West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service’s new Interim Chief Fire Officer.
Gary began his career at the then Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service as a firefighter in 2002 and served the communities of Portsmouth and Southampton for 12 years. He then joined WSFRS as a Station Manager at Bognor Regis in 2017, before serving as a Group Manager and Area Manager before being appointed as the service’s Assistant Chief Fire Officer last year.
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