In 1974, local government reorganisation led to the creation of a single organisation for the county – Derbyshire Fire Service.

On 1 August 2019, a major incident was declared and 1,500 residents were evacuated from parts of Whaley Bridge, Furness Vale and New Mills after concrete slabs on the 1969 overflow spillway were partially dislodged by high volumes of water following several days of heavy rain.

High-volume pumps were deployed to take water from the reservoir to prevent it from overflowing and reduce pressure on the dam.

An RAF Chinook helicopter dropped 400 tonnes of aggregate into the damaged area and specialist contractors added concrete grouting between the bags of ballast to bind them together to support the spillway.

Up to ninety firefighters were deployed to tackle a large scale apartment building fire inside an old converted cotton mill in the town of Glossop.