Devon and Somerset launches fire service consultation

All fire and rescue services in the UK are required to have an Integrated Risk Management Plan with the intention of saving lives, improving public safety and reducing emergency incidents.The plan identifies the main risks that the Service needs to consider when planning for the future, which are:

• An increasingly ageing population;
• Common health and wellbeing risks;
• Availability of on-call appliances;
• The historical distribution of service delivery resources;
• An increasing demand for emergency medical response; and
• An increase in the number of serious fires affecting commercial premises.

DSFRS area manager Pete Bond explained that the Service will need to evolve to meet the changing needs of the community. He said: “If you were to ask people to describe the work of firefighters, most people would probably talk about us fighting fires and possibly dealing with road traffic collisions.

"In fact, the Service completed more community safety activities than the number of incidents attended last year and just 26% of incidents attended by the Service are fires.

"Our risk analysis indicates that we will have to develop new ways of working to ensure that we continue to provide a first class emergency service, some of the things we will have to consider include how we make best use of our resources and an increase in the amount of preventative work we carry out.’’

The IRMP plan explains the Service’s activities in more detail and the public are being asked to comment on the priorities identified by the Service.

The public can view the plan on www.dsfire.gov.uk/consultation and feedback can be given in a number of different ways until 31 December 2017.