Following a meeting of the People and Culture Committee’s Employment Panel on behalf of the Fire Authority on August 9, Richard Welch, currently, Deputy Assistant Commissioner at London Fire Brigade, will begin his new role with the Service later this year.

We were delighted to have received a number of high-quality applications for the recent Assistant Chief Fire Officer vacancy and to be afforded the opportunity to select from a strong calibre of candidates,” said Cllr David Wilcox, Chair of the Employment Panel. Following a thorough recruitment process that included several stages, the Panel is confident that Richard is the right person for the job; to assist the Chief Fire Officer in leading the Service forward on its journey of continuous improvement.”

“My congratulations to Richard for his success in what has been an incredibly competitive process,” said AF&RS Chief Fire Officer Simon Shilton. His breadth, depth, and wealth of experience and knowledge will undoubtedly improve the effective, efficient, and cost-effective services that we are dedicated to providing to our local communities. He’ll be an excellent addition to the team, and I’m looking forward to working with him.”

In 1996, Richard joined the London Fire Brigade. He worked at a number of Fire Stations in South East and South West London before relocating to East London and establishing the Local Intervention Fire Education (L.I.F.E) project, for which he received the prestigious Mayors London Day Award for Improving the Lives of Londoners in 2003. His community engagement work led to him delivering training to Fire and Rescue Services across the UK, as well as to countries such as Spain and New Zealand.

Richard was promoted to Station Manager for East Ham Rescue Station and later Poplar Fire Station in 2009 before being promoted to Borough Commander for Bexley in South East London and then to Borough Commander in the London boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth before being promoted to Deputy Assistant Commissioner in regulatory fire safety in 2017. Between 2019 and 2022, he served as Deputy Assistant Commissioner for London’s South East and then the North East.

“I am absolutely delighted to be appointed as Assistant Chief Fire Officer,” Richard said of his new position. Avon is a fantastic fire and rescue service with fantastic people doing fantastic work. Instead of simply admiring from afar, I now have the opportunity to be a part of this wonderful organisation. I’m looking forward to meeting staff from across the organisation and learning how I can use my experience to help make our communities safer and our Service stronger.”

Richard is a highly experienced officer in terms of operations. He was the Incident Commander at Grenfell Tower and the Parsons Green terrorist attack, both of which were declared Major Incidents. He has received numerous awards and commendations for operational incidents, community engagement, leadership, and collaboration. He is also a former RNLI lifeboat crew member who received a bronze award for bravery.

Richard has four grown sons and five young grandchildren with whom he enjoys spending time. His interests include cycling and travel.