They have been formally welcomed to Redcar Community Fire Station by Ian Hayton, Chief Fire Officer, Cleveland Fire Brigade and since moving in earlier this year have already attended nearly 50 incidents.

These have ranged from people floating out to sea in inflatable dinghies, fishing vessels with technical problems to vehicles stuck on the beach.

Steve Hart, Senior Coastguard Operations Officer for HM Coastguard said: "This relocation into a shared station reinforces the strong partnership we already have with our colleagues in Cleveland Fire Brigade and we are proud to be the first Coastguard Rescue Team in the North East to do this.

redcar coastguard

"Working in close collaboration with our colleagues across other agencies is a fundamental part of how we work and our new shared station continues to strengthen the work we already do to keep people safe on the Cleveland coast."

The new £1.4m state-of-the-art Redcar Community Fire Station was officially opened in 2011 and includes community meeting and training rooms as well as gymnasium and multi-sport activities room.

Funding included the Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership, the Primary Care Trust and the Youth Capital Fund Plus.

Chief Fire Officer Ian Hayton said: “We are delighted to have the Coastguard team on board as key partner in protecting local people and sharing the first-class community facilities we have at Redcar.”