Serco joins the National Fire Chiefs Council

The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) has welcomed Serco Middle East as one of its first international members since expanding its membership to include organisations beyond UK Fire and Rescue Services in October 2023.

In confirming Serco’s membership, the NFCC is recognising Serco for its contribution to the fire and rescue industry and especially its world-leading International Fire Training Centre (IFTC) that has been achieving export success since 1996. The IFTC provides life-saving training to thousands of firefighters from around the world every year and today, trains close to 10,000 delegates annually, from major customers such as NATO and the United Nations, to nations such as France, Germany, Romania and Tahiti. As a result of this export success, the IFTC won the Queen’s Award for Export in 2017.

With the recent establishment of Serco’s IFTC here in the Middle East, Serco has bolstered its own operational contracts within the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as well as enabled regional Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) to achieve levels of training previously only available to them with the added logistical drawbacks of international travel.

Membership of the NFCC will benefit Serco Middle East by providing access to up-to-date operational guidance and learning amongst other valuable training and development tools. These materials contain some of the leading practices in the world and will ensure that Serco continues excellent delivery across all its fire and rescue capabilities.

The NFCC has a unique role in representing fire and rescue services on the national and international stage with one voice for maximum impact. Today, membership is open to a wide range of organisations including airport and industrial fire services and training providers. Its approach sees everyone work together and offer up sector-led solutions.

Teren Tan, Head of Emergency Services in Serco’s Middle East Division, said:

“The Middle East moves rapidly and so, as a business we need to move even faster to remain at the forefront of our markets. Serco’s establishment of the IFTC here in the region stands as a testament to this, seeing considerable success and integrations with key clients since its launch in 2021. Becoming an Affiliate member of the NFCC further enhances the foundations of our IFTC regionally and will improve our capability to effectively transfer knowledge to new and fast-growing government entities and giga-developments throughout the Middle East, supporting the expanding need for best-in-class emergency services.