Fire authority

In England and Wales a fire authority or fire and rescue authority is a statutory body made up of a committee of local councillors which oversees the policy and service delivery of a fire and rescue service.^[1] Prior to the Fire Services Act 2004 many fire and rescue authorities were known as fire and civil defence authorities; this designation is no longer used.

A combined fire authority (CFA) is one created by a statutory instrument to cover more than one local authority area. Usually each of the constituent local authorities appoints a fixed number of members of the CFA, depending on their relative populations.