Agenda item

Purpose: To understand how the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) provides cover for the West Berkshire area.

Andy Mancey (Assistant Chief Fire Officer) and Bryan Morgan (Area Manager) of the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) presented to the Commission information on the RBFRS coverage of West Berkshire.

Andy Mancey explained that the role of the fire service was three-fold: to prevent fires, to protect the public and to respond to incidents. In recent years, the fire service had prioritised its role in community safety, undertaking home fire risk assessments in the homes of vulnerable people in order to raise awareness of fire safety, for example through fitting smoke detectors, and assisting with the development of an exit plan in the event of fire at the dwelling.

Andy Mancey illustrated the improvements that had been made in the prevention of fires over the past ten years stating that the number of fires had reduced significantly, and that the number of home fire risk assessments and the number of volunteer hours had increased. However the number of fire deaths remained at seven. Each death had been of a vulnerable person known to other agencies but unknown to the RBFRS. Andy Mancey explained that the fire service intended to address this gap in information by working more closely with other agencies. A comprehensive understanding of where vulnerable people were located would enable more targeted home fire risk assessments to be carried out.

In relating the improvements seen when the RBFRS had responded to incidents, Andy Mancey informed the Commission that road traffic collisions were classified into two categories, those where people were trapped, which were always attended, and those where no one was trapped, to which a response might be made, for example if there was a petrol spillage to be made safe. Compared with national figures, the number of road traffic collisions was considered low at 135.

The RBFRS was also targeting a further reduction in the number of unwanted fire signals, explained as a false alarm where an appliance attended unnecessarily.

The reduction by 90% in the number of malicious calls to the fire service was attributed to successful partnership working.

Since 2002 the RBFRS had seen slower response times; this was explained through a growing difficulty in attracting volunteer, or ‘retained’, fire fighters and therefore a reduction in the availability of fire appliances across the area. The requirements for being a retained fire fighter meant that it was necessary for them to live and work locally, and have flexible working arrangements. This was a reducing trend with people frequently working further away from their home, and businesses appeared less willing to release staff.

The target response time for an appliance to reach incidents was ten minutes, and there was a requirement for retained fire fighters to turn out within five minutes of a call being raised, and full time fire fighters were required to turn out within one minute, leaving five or nine minutes respectively to reach the incident. This limitation meant that large areas of rural West Berkshire were not accessible within the target time. Andy Mancey explained that any areas that could not be reached within the ten minute target time were prioritised for high impact community safety work.

Following an incident, the immediate area was designated a ‘hot street’ and community safety work was undertaken at this time when it was recognised that residents were generally more willing to engage with preventative advice.

Bryan Morgan continued by explaining proposed changes to the location of fire stations. He advised the Commission that the RBFRS intended to establish a new fire station at Theale, to replace the one currently at Tilehurst. This location would provide improved access to the surrounding area, and provide greater support into Newbury, in addition to the Pangbourne and Mortimer areas.

Newbury fire station currently held the only full time fire engine in West Berkshire, alongside a retained crew and second appliance. The intention was to remove the retained section and replace it with a second full time crew. This would allow the second appliance to provide cover to other areas of the district when they were not covered (for example Lambourn and Hungerford areas).

During questioning, Andy Mancey and Bryan Morgan were able to provide the following information:

·        Several sites had been explored for the new fire station in Theale, however the costs were proving to be prohibitive, and the fire service was not able to be competitive against other businesses. The search was extending across junction 12 of the M4, however the preference was for the new location to be south of the junction;

·        Two appliances were sent to a dwelling fire or road traffic collision, and crews were adept at travelling through busy or blocked roads and motorways. The fire service worked closely with the Highways Authority to ensure the public remained safe;

·        The new headquarters were due to be operational by April 2014 and this would house the control centre for Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. The headquarters were separate from the new fire station intended for Theale;

·        It was rare for no crew to turn out to an alarm call, but occasionally it did happen due to unforeseen circumstances. Any incident that was not attended underwent a detailed review to reduce the risk of reoccurrence;

·        Information was available to indicate the proportion of dwellings that could be reached within the ten minute target response time, and would be circulated to the Commission;

·        Mapping systems on board fire appliances were able to highlight dwellings with vulnerable people, where this information was known to the fire service;

·        Private fire services (for example those based at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE)) worked closely with the fire service, and might be called to attend certain incidents, however their primary role remained to manage risks associated with their site. Some sites with private fire services would be required to shut down operations if the fire appliance left the site, so could not be relied on to be available at all times;

·        The location of fire appliances was assessed on the basis of availability of resources, cost and risk;

·        The fire service would encourage new developments to install sprinklers in all buildings;

·        There were no plans to keep the retained fire fighters at Newbury should the second appliance become crewed by full time fire fighters;

·        If Neighbourhood Action Groups were willing to contribute to fire safety, their coordinators should contact the RBFRS for information regarding fire safety risk assessment training.

The Commission thanked Andy Mancey and Bryan Morgan for attending and for providing information about the proposed reorganisation of fire service coverage in west Berkshire.

RESOLVED that Andy Mancey would provide information to illustrate the proportion of dwellings within the ten minute target response time area.