New North Wales fire chief officer named as current Greater Manchester deputy chief Dawn Docx

The new chief fire officer for North Wales has been named as the current deputy chief for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service.

Dawn Docx will be appointed to the role following the previous announcement that the current North Wales chief fire officer, Simon Smith, will be retiring this summer.

Mrs Docx has more than 20 years’ experience in the fire service, around half of which have been spent in senior positions.

She previously worked for North Wales Fire and Rescue Service for around eleven years from 2006 as an assistant and deputy chief fire officer.

She left to join the Greater Manchester service as deputy in December 2017 and shortly after stepped up to the role of interim chief officer.

It followed former chief officer Peter O’Reilly’s decision to retire after being criticised over the service’s response to the Manchester Arena attack.

During her time in the interim post, Mrs Docx led the service’s response to the Kerslake Report into the bombing and
the Saddleworth Moor fire, which has been described as the largest English wildfire in living memory.

She went back to her main role in September 2018 and will now return to North Wales to take up the leading post, which comes with a salary of more than £130,000 a year.

As chief fire officer, she will be responsible for the overall leadership and co-ordination of the service.

Mrs Docx will also be required to build relationships with senior Welsh Government figures.

Cllr Peter Lewis, Chair of North Wales Fire and Rescue Authority said: “I am delighted to welcome Dawn back to North Wales.

“There will be many challenges post COVID and we are confident Dawn will address those challenges and maintain the high standards that the North Wales Fire and Rescue Service are renowned for and we look forward to working with her in the near future.”

Mrs Docx said: “I am immensely proud to be returning to North Wales Fire and Rescue Service and look forward to continuing the excellent work in making North Wales a safer place to live, work and visit.

“Our role is to prevent, protect and respond and within my new role I will strive to make sure we do this as effectively as possible.”