Release date: 12 June 2025
West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service has appointed Gary Ball as its Interim Chief Fire Officer (CFO).
Gary will take up the role on an interim basis for the next two years as the service prepares for devolution and local government reorganisation.
The appointment comes following the appointment of the service’s current CFO, Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, as the new CFO at Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service.
Gary is currently the service’s Deputy Chief Fire Officer, having previously served as Assistant Chief Fire Officer and Area Manager for Service Delivery. He joined WSFRS in 2017 as a Station Manager, and has since led a number of significant projects within the service, such as implementing the service’s improvement plan following inspections from His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), which has seen huge improvements in the service’s transformation journey, and the introduction of the Performance and Assurance Framework which provides structure and governance arrangements to ensure that statutory obligations are being suitably scrutinised and delivered. As Area Manager for Service Delivery he worked with firefighters to create the service’s new day-crewing model – a key priority set out in the fire service’s Community Risk Management Plan.
Nationally, Gary has previously been seconded to HMICFRS, and is currently the National Fire Chiefs Council’s (NFCC) Lead for on-call, which has seen him set a ground-breaking new project in motion around retained firefighter recruitment.
Commenting on his appointment, Gary said: “I am incredibly humbled to have been appointed as the Interim Chief Fire Officer of West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service and am thoroughly looking forward to leading the service forward as we enter this period of devolution and local government reorganisation. WSFRS has an incredibly proud history dating back to 1948 when the service was formally established, and I am very honoured to have been entrusted to lead the service forward into this exciting new chapter.”
Gary began his career at the then Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service as a firefighter in 2002 and served the communities of Portsmouth and Southampton for 12 years. He then joined West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service as a Station Manager at Bognor Regis in 2017, before serving as a Group Manager and Area Manager before being appointed as the service’s Assistant Chief Fire Officer last year.
West Sussex County Council Cabinet Member for Community Support, Fire and Rescue, Duncan Crow said: “Throughout his time here at West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service Gary has demonstrated his commitment to our fire and rescue service and embodied the service’s core code of ethics in the delivery of his work. He is very highly-regarded as a senior leader, both within our service, and on a national level. I am confident that he will lead West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service diligently through this period as we deliver devolution and local government reorganisation, ensuring the fire and rescue service continues to deliver a first-rate public service for the people living and working within our communities.”