A new Chief Fire Officer has been appointed to oversee Staffordshire services.

Rob Barber will succeed Becci Bryant, who is retiring this month. He joined Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service 24 years ago and has been Deputy Chief Fire Officer for the past five years.

His appointment was unanimously approved by Staffordshire's Police, Fire and Crime Panel at a meeting on Tuesday (October 12).

Speaking after the meeting Staffordshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Ben Adams said: "'As Staffordshire's new Chief Fire Officer, Rob brings a wealth of operational and strategic experience across all areas of the service.

"I'm looking forward to working together to deliver a fire and rescue plan that shapes Staffordshire Fire and Rescue for the future, providing efficient and effective services to keep the people of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent safe."

Mr Barber told the panel the risks and challenges facing the fire and rescue service included the impact of poor health and increase in obesity and dementia among residents, as well as climate change and large waste sites.

He said: "I've lived in Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent all my life and I'm fully committed to the city and county. I have worked throughout the county in all operational roles and I've been incident commander for a number of major incidents in recent years throughout the county.

"We've witnessed a significant change in recent years across all three areas of our organisation: prevention, protection and response.

"Throughout the pandemic we have been far more agile and flexible in the way we have delivered our prevention activities because we couldn't do face to face visits. We've used technology to reach some of the most vulnerable members of our community and I would like to think we would continue with that approach as we come out of the pandemic.

"From a protection perspective, or fire safety, we need to recognise that the tragic events of Grenfell Tower are far-reaching in terms of the impact on the fire and rescue service both locally and nationally. The fire and rescue service have a fundamental part to play in terms of the safety of our built environment. We will need to further reinforce our protection teams in order to meet this growing demand.

"In terms of response, I'm sure you have seen recently the scenes globally of the impacts of climate change; the wildfires we have experienced in Italy and Greece and also significant areas of wide area flooding. Locally we're experiencing increasing wildfires in our beautiful countryside. Both the Moorlands and Cannock Chase have seen significant incidents in recent years.

"In addition to this we are seeing large infrastructure changes such as HS2 and housing developments which will also have an impact on our service. We also need to be aware of the impacts of terrorism and the very real risk that this poses both locally and nationally. Understanding these wider local issues is imperative as fire is often a symptom of a more complex root cause.

"I want to ensure that if you live, work or visit Staffordshire or Stoke on Trent you're as safe as possible. By working collectively with our strategic partners we can improve and provide this assurance to all."