Powys is the largest county in Wales, covering a quarter of Wales’ landmass. The county stretches from the border of Wrexham and Gwynedd in the north, to the Swansea Valley and Monmouthshire in the south. It borders Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire in the west, Shropshire and Herefordshire in the east.
To the south the county also contains a substantial part of the Brecon Beacons National Park.
At 5,197 square kilometres, Powys is twice the size of the next largest county in Wales and has a population of 131,313 people living in 60918 households. This makes it the most sparsely populated county in England and Wales at only 25 people per square kilometre. Nearly 90,000 hectares of Powys falls within the nationally significant landscape of the Brecon Beacons National Park, which provides local enjoyment and generates significant tourism business.
There are upwards of 290 operational and support staff within the Command, operating 23 major pumping appliances and 18 specialist and support vehicles, based in fire stations located in each of the eighteen principal towns in Powys. The County Command Headquarters is based at the new Combined Services Headquarters in Llandrindod Wells.
Due to the size of Powys service delivery is divided into two groups. The North Powys Group are based at Llanidloes Road, Newtown, and the South Powys Group are based at the Llandrindod Wells site, with a further base at Camden Road, Brecon to provide a geographical coverage for this vast area.