Baroness Blake of Leeds has been appointed as the government’s fire minister following her appointment as parliamentary under-secretary of state for building safety, fire and resilience within the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government
As fire minister, she oversees fire policy and operations, building safety, resilience, recovery, and emergencies, placing her at the centre of government engagement with the fire and rescue sector.
Full responsibilities of the fire minister
Further responsibilities include:
- Building safety, regulations, Building Safety Regulator, and remediation
- Grenfell Inquiry response
- Fire policy and operations
- Grenfell Community, Tower, and Memorial
- Net zero and energy efficiency
- Resilience, recovery, and emergencies
- Government spokesperson for equalities
- Planning casework
Increasing wildfires causing significant damage to UK buildings
Baroness Blake’s appointment as fire minister comes at a time when fire and rescue services are facing significant challenges responding to widespread wildfire activity across parts of the UK.
As the Fire Protection Association previously reported, recent incidents have damaged residential properties in the West Midlands, while military personnel have been deployed to support firefighting operations in South Wales.
According to the National Fire Chiefs Council, national resilience data show that fire and rescue services in England and Wales responded to 1,132 wildfires between 1 January and 16 August 2026, surpassing the 1,017 recorded wildfires for all of 2025.
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