Agenda item

The Community Risk Management Plan 2022-26 has been developed, providing data and analysis on key fire and rescue related risks, and information on how Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service will work with communities to address and mitigate those risks.  The purpose of the report is to raise awareness of a public consultation on the Plan which opens on 5 January 2022 and closes on 16 February 2022 and to provide an opportunity for feedback from Local Area Council into the process.

The Local Area Council received a presentation from the Chief Fire Officer on the draft Community Risk Management Plan 2022 – 2026.  (A copy of the power point presentation and draft plan were enclosed with the signed minutes).  He introduced his colleagues also in attendance: Graeme Binning, Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Deborah Brown, Strategic Policy, Risk and Performance Officer and Simon Daniell, Community Safety Team Leader.

He explained that all fire and rescue authorities were required to produce a Community Risk Management Plan which must:

·        reflect up to date risk analyses;

·        demonstrate how prevention, protection and response activities would best be used to prevent and mitigate the impact of identified risks on its communities;

·        outline required service delivery outcomes including the allocation of resources;

·        set out its management strategy and risk-based programme for enforcing the provisions of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005;

·        cover at least a three-year time span;

·        reflect effective consultation throughout its development; and

·        be easily accessible and publicly available.

The plan would need to be reviewed as often was required, for example, as it had been in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.  An annual update reviewed performance, changes to risk and whether this impacted on the service.

The plan set out the definition of risk as a 'combination of the likelihood and consequence of a hazardous event' and provided more information to explain the risk analysis process and the 10 most frequently attended incidents in the previous 5 years.  Over 90% of attendances were attributable to these incident types and rarely changed which allowed the service to target resources effectively.  Dwelling fires were highlighted as one of the top incidents and the plan set out what they did to reduce risk and what they planned to do, to further reduce risk.

The fire and rescue service also needed to be prepared to respond to emerging risks, which although infrequent, had the potential for a high impact.  This included:

·        Climate change and extreme weather events.

·        Pandemic.

·        Future housing and commercial development.

·        Ageing population and increased vulnerability.

·        British Volt.

·        Ashington, Blyth and Tyne Rail Line.

The aims and priorities for 2022/23 were outlined.

Consultation on the plan had commenced on 5 January 2022 and was due to close on 16 February 2022.  Councillors and members of the public were encouraged to respond to the survey or provide feedback to allow the fire and rescue service to better shape and deliver their service.

Comments from the committee and responses from the Chief Fire Officer were as follows:

·        An audit of clad buildings in the county had been undertaken following the Grenfell tragedy and some remedial action had been taken.  There were no buildings over 18 metres high with external cladding that fell within the Grenfell review categories for recommendations and actions; it was therefore a low risk and not included within the CRMP.

·        The fire and rescue service were not a statutory consultee on planning applications but did respond to surface water flooding incidents.  They worked with colleagues in Local Services regarding clearance of drains or culverts or identification of areas where there were repeat flooding problems.  He agreed to speak to Councillor Kennedy outside the meeting regarding flooding concerns at properties near the new high school in Hexham.

·        The plan was more user friendly, however it was suggested that measurements should be in kilometres² and miles².

·        It would be more beneficial to set out the range of areas that stations covered rather than an average, as it would explain the difference in response times, particularly in rural areas.  The average had been calculated as part of a national comparison.

·        Recruitment of Retained Duty Service personnel was problematic across the UK.  The service was reviewing how flexible, dynamic and creative it needed to be including review of contracts to remove historical requirements, realistic expectations of candidates in terms of fitness and technical capabilities, provision of support through the pre-selection and testing process, removal of the requirement to start the process over if a candidate failed assessment in one area.  They had moved to a continuous recruitment process to have officers ready before they were needed and would have 30 new RDS candidates available in the first 6 months of 2022.

·        The fire and rescue service did not work with Highways England on specific performance measures or outcomes when managing accidents on roads.  They did however work together if there would be an impact on the road infrastructure which would affect the fire and rescue service’s ability to respond to incidents.  Information was also occasionally exchanged between both parties when undertaking road safety analysis and reviews.

·        The youth cadet scheme was currently running at 7 fire stations in Northumberland and discussions had recently been held about the scheme starting at another.  This included Hexham, Allendale and Haltwhistle.  Councillor Scott requested she be involved in discussions regarding a scheme at Prudhoe.

·        Information was to be checked from the Met Office in the Flooding and Water Rescue section on page 23.  It was believed that more information should be included, as whilst there was expected to be fewer rainy days in summer, the amount of rain that fell would increase by approximately 14% under a 2oc warming scenario and 28% under a 4oc warming scenario.

·        The service was working with Newcastle University to understand why more outdoor fires were being started by young people and if incidents were being recorded accurately.  A range of preventative measures and reactive work was carried out by fire crews and the community safety section in areas where these were prevalent.  They worked with communities to obtain intelligence and worked with schools to influence behaviour in the longer term.  They specifically worked with young people who set fires under ‘Programme Extinguish’ to understand why, other risk factors and worked with partners in other organisations for referrals.  This included colleagues in Northumbria Police given the success of previous anti-social behaviour work.

·        Fluctuation in outdoor fires was driven by the weather with spikes being seen in spells of good weather during school holidays.  A reduction in the number of fires had been seen during the pandemic lockdowns and had increased when restrictions had eased.  This was believed to be due to sections of the population visiting the countryside who did not understand the countryside code, set campfires and used disposable barbeques in areas where they should not, as they did not understand the risk of wildfires.  Northumberland FRS was the national lead for wildfires and had developed the National Fire Chiefs Council education media programme for wildfire events.

Councillors expressed their admiration to officers for the commitment of those in the service, their professionalism and prompt response to incidents.

RESOLVED that the report and presentation be received and that the comments be noted.