Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service serves a resident population of 1.09 million spread across the five constituent councils of Gateshead, Newcastle, Sunderland, North Tyneside and South Tyneside. Our vision is to 'Create the Safest Community'. To help us achieve this we have 17 Community Fire Stations, covering 540 square kilometres. A few years ago, as part of our modernisation, we replaced eight of our older fire stations with six new PFI Community Fire Stations as well as a new Headquarters. To commemorate the new stations, a member of staff (Martin Woods) was commissioned to produce oil paintings of the eight stations which were closing and the six new buildings and Headquarters. These are now on display across the new locations.