Collapsing ceilings, leaking windows and rat boxes: inside one of England’s crumbling fire stations

Simon Carey, the group commander of the Plymouth response at Devon and Somerset fire and rescue service, says the state of the station affects team morale. Photograph: Jim Wileman/The Guardian

Approaching a dilapidated-looking 1960s building with a peeling and faded exterior, it is common for visitors to have the same thought: this cannot possibly be an active fire station.

“You can say it looks derelict, we know,” says Simon Carey, the group commander of the Plymouth response at Devon and Somerset fire and rescue service.