About Edinburgh Airport Fire Service

The primary role of the Airport Fire Service is the saving of life at aircraft accidents and incidents. All operational fire appliances and their crews must be able to reach any part of the airfield area within two minutes thirty seconds.

As well as this primary role, the BAA plc Airport Fire Service also supports the protection of passengers and staff not on aircraft and all BAA’s assets and buildings. This includes domestic fires, road traffic accidents, dealing with hazardous materials and chemicals and trapped persons.

The Airport Fire Service is an integral part of BAA and works within the Operations department at all our airfields. The BAA Airport Fire Service is the largest civil aviation firefighting service in the United Kingdom and generally seen to be industry leaders in this field. Each of our stations has an appointed Airport Fire Manager who forms part of the senior management team for the location and is responsible for ensuring all regulatory requirements of the Fire Service are met to the satisfaction of the Managing Director and the CAA.

Edinburgh Airport is a category 8 airfield and is proud to have recently been named as Scotland’s busiest. To assist in achieving our aim of being the most successful regional airport in Europe, the Airport Fire Service needs to maintain a state of constant operational   effectiveness in order to respond and manage a wide variety of different and diverse emergency situations. Over and above our primary role, we are also actively involved in fire safety and fire prevention, as well as  promoting the airport positively and fostering a safe working environment for everyone using the airport facilities. All of these factors help to contribute to Edinburgh Airport’s standing as a successful and responsible airport operator.

We also take our commitment to the local community very seriously through various work with local charities and groups, such as the Scottish Burned Children’s Club, as well as having the first fully functioning Youth Firefighter programme up and running at any UK airport.

Edinburgh Airport Fire Station

The airport fire station was built in 1977. It has appliance bays designed to take six firefighting appliances, and a control watch room fitted with advanced communication systems.

Located adjacent to the main 06/24 runway and well situated for emergency deployment of all fire appliances to reach all areas within the airfield, in less than three minutes.


24 hour manning of the fire station is achieved by four alternating watches Red, White, Blue and Green. Each watch comprises of 12 Leading Firefighters/Firefighters and three managers conducting a 12 hour tour of duty.

The Airport Fire Service sets high standards of physical fitness for its personnel and the fire station facilities also include an excellent gymnasium fitted out with up to the minute cardio-vascular equipment.

The Firefighters undertake regular fitness training sessions under the guidance of qualified Fire Service physical training instructors.

Edinburgh Airport Fire Service Training Facilities

The fire ground at Edinburgh has undergone modernisation and at this time comprises a simulated 757 aircraft rig, designed to allow a range of differing fire scenarios ranging from a nose wheel fire to a large scale internal fire scenario.

It uses two types of fuel for burning, pressure fed diesel for external fires and liquid propane gas (LPG) vapour for internal fire training. Both fuels create realistic aviation fuel burning at intensely high temperatures. In addition to this rig there are at the west end of the 757 rig a heat and humidity chamber designed to simulate the type of conditions which may be experienced when fighting an internal aircraft fire.

The Airport Fire Service takes its responsibility to the environment very seriously, and all of our training exercises are planned and carried out in a manner that minimises the impact on the environment. The levels of carbonaceous materials produced during our fire training have reduced over the years, and we work closely with the Airport Environmental Dept to monitor and improve on this. Aside from aircraft incidents we also train for, and attend, domestic fires, chemical spills, road traffic collisions and medical emergencies on the airport grounds.

Whilst it is a common misconception that the Airport Fire Service is a purely reactive service, we are heavily involved in proactive fire safety throughout the airport. This takes the form of training airport staff in fire prevention and fire awareness issues, to carrying out fire safety inspections and tours and compiling Fire Risk Assessments for our tenants.