Heritage is a word used to describe something which is inherited from ancestors. In this instance it describes the historical landscape that exists within the West Midlands as part of our rich industrial and architectural legacy, ranging from stately homes and sites of religious significance, to Victorian mills and factories that powered the Industrial Revoultion.
If a building or part of a building is deemed to be historically valuable and of exceptional interest it may be registered as ‘listed’. Grade I buildings are of exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important. Grade II* buildings are particularly important buildings of more than special interest.
There are over 100 grade I listed premises within the West Midlands metropolitan district. Generally these buildings or parts of buildings are unique and if lost to fire are irreplaceable. Please click here to see a map of the locations of all the grade 1 and grade II* listed sites across our brigade area. West Midlands Fire Service is committed to mitigating the risk to West Midlands' heritage in order to avoid incidents such as Shannons Mill (Walsall, August 2007) and preserve it for future generations. This can be achieved through both pre-planning and training.
Site risk identifications have been conducted on all grade 1 and grade II* listed buildings so that our firefighters have a prior knowledge of the site before attending an emergency there. To find out more about site risk identifications please click here.
The West Midlands metropolitan area also has a great wealth of historically and culturally valuable items and artefacts, housed in museums, art galleries and in private collections.
If we can be aware that a building has specific items of heritage value, firefighters may be able to salvage these items as a priority, during an emergency. Training can be organised for our crews in salvaging items such as these, together with specialist training and awareness that we are able to provide to managers and curators of the relevant sites. Site risk identifications can also help to identify these valuable items previous to emergency incidents and enable local firefighters to prepare contingency and salvage plans.
We are also pro-active in our approach to engaging with heritage specialists and we work with organisations such as English Heritage and the National Trust as well as local museums and art galleries, to provide a co-ordinated and informed approach to the protection of our heritage sites from fire and other emergencies.
