Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service is seeking feedback on its plan for the next four years. All fire and rescue services have to produce a document called an Integrated Risk Management Plan which contains information about its local community, the risks, and opportunities the Service faces, and how it plans to manage them.
This culminates in a list of priorities that the Service will focus on over the next four years. The draft plan has been agreed upon by the Fire Authority and is out for consultation.
Priority areas
Chief Fire Officer Chris Strickland said, “The plans set out what we think are the priority areas for us to concentrate on to improve our service or to manage the key risks we have identified. For example, one risk for us is the aging population. Our historic data shows that the majority of deaths as a result of a fire in the county have been residents aged over 65 with an additional form of vulnerability such as a disability affecting their ability to escape."
"This has always been a priority area for our fire prevention work and will remain so, exploring other opportunities to identify where vulnerable residents are within our communities so we can visit them and identify any fire risks in their homes.”
list of priorities
Many of the priorities are further developing areas we have been concentrating on over the last few years"
The list of priorities also includes improving firefighter training facilities, implementing new emergency call handling technology in the control room, developing mental health support for staff, continuing to develop how on-call firefighters are used to improve operational response, and exploring other opportunities to positively influence young people.
Chris continued, “Many of the priorities are further developing areas we have been concentrating on over the last few years."
government-commissioned inspections
"Through a series of government-commissioned inspections, we have been found to be one of the best fire and rescue services in the country but we know there is always improvement we can make."
"New technologies, potential collaborations, identified best practices and societal changes all provide new risks or opportunities for us to evaluate and evolve our service.”
detailed consultation
He added, “We have carried out some detailed consultation with a number of focus groups across the county but would like to give everyone the opportunity to have a say and let us know what you think."
"We’d like to know if you think there are key risks or opportunities missing and if you think our priorities seem about right or again if you think there is something else we should be focusing resources on.” The consultation is open until January 24th, 2020, to allow any changes to be made before it is presented to the Fire Authority in February for sign-off.
