Ben Ansell is Chief Fire Officer of Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Ben was born in Fareham, Hampshire and, at the age of 22, joined Dorset Fire Brigade in 1994. He served as an operational firefighter, Leading Firefighter and Sub Officer in the Bournemouth and Poole area and also at service training centre, becoming a Station Officer in 2002.
He then worked in operational planning, audit & review, response policy and area command teams.
During 2006, Ben was seconded to Her Majesty’s Fire Service Inspectorate as an Area Manager, where he led a team into seven fire and rescue authorities, as part of the Operational Assessment of Service Delivery inspection programme.
Upon his return to Dorset, he led Olympic planning, before becoming an Area Commander in 2009 and then in 2012 was promoted to Assistant Chief Fire Officer, with responsibility for prevention, protection and response in Dorset.
Following the decision to combine with Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, Ben was appointed as Assistant Chief Fire Officer and Director of Operations for the new Service.
He took up the role of Chief Fire Officer on 1 December 2016.