A village’s fire station has been named as the best in Hertfordshire this year.

King’s Langley fire station was praised for its part-time on-call fire fighters being available 98 per cent of the time this year at the HEART awards in Tewinbury Farm on November 18.

It beat competition from Hoddesdon and Welwyn to win Herts Fire and Rescue’s retained station of the year award at the seventh annual ceremony.

Chief for officer at Herts Fire and Resecue Roy Wilsher said: “I was delighted to present the award to King’s Langley fire station.

“In addition to responding to emergencies in their area, the crew have delivered an impressive amount of community safety work resulting in reductions in the number of fires, arson incidents and false alarms on their patch.

“The crew have also built strong links with their local community, taking an active role in parish council initiatives and attending or hosting a variety of community groups in the town.”

The HEART Awards were launched in 2009 to acknowledge the achievements of the county council’s community protection staff, made up of Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, Resilience, the Community Safety Unit and Trading Standards.

They aim to recognise and reward these teams for the valuable contributions they make to Hertfordshire’s communities.