Two key documents that will help shape the future of Cumbria County Council’s Fire and Rescue Service are out for public consultation.
Following the publication in June 2003 of the Government White Paper "Our Fire & Rescue Service" all fire authorities in the UK are undertaking a modernisation programme to deliver a better service and save more lives.
Work is continuing within Cumbria County Council’s Fire and Rescue Service to make communities across the county safer. There is greater emphasis on preventing fires and other emergencies and the causes of these incidents. This approach aims to cut the number of deaths and injuries as well as damage to property, the environment, and the community.
Part of this process is to produce an Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) where statistic based forecasts help the service focus on what it needs to do. This work started in 2003 and continues with the publication of Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service’s third draft IRMP, now released for public consultation. Copies of the document will be available at all libraries (including mobile libraries) throughout the county. An electronic version will be available on line at www.cumbriacc.gov.uk/fireservice. The consultation process will be open until 24 December 2005.
Cumbria County Council's Fire and Rescue Service is undertaking a programme of change to reflect the needs of the 21st century environment, with greater flexibility to use resources to respond more effectively to local risks. This is based on a major exercise to map risks and emergency call patterns across our County.
Many of the changes introduced so far have had a significant effect on the number of deaths and injuries caused by fire with a steady downward trend over the last five years.
Cumbria County Council Fire and Rescue Service is increasingly working in partnership with other organisations to look at ways to identify and protect the people that are known to be most at risk.
County Councillor Geoff Hodgson spokesman for the Fire and Rescue Service says:
"I am aware that the service, nationally and locally, is embarking upon major changes improve the safety of people’s lives.
Alongside reducing the number of fires within Cumbria, the Fire and Rescue Service is working with many partners to reduce road traffic accidents, improve the communities we live in, and mitigate the possible effects of flooding and terrorism.
Some of these risks have always been with us and some are new. In order to provide the best service we need to know what they are, and where they are, which is why integrated risk management planning is important."
The IRMP is enacted through annual action plans and the draft Year Three Action Plan is also open for consultation. It is committed to a number of issues based on evidence already gathered.
Bernard Dolan, Cumbria’s Chief Fire Officer explains:
"These consultation exercises on our Integrated Risk Management and Action Plans are extremely valuable to us. Listening to opinions given by the general public helps us to develop our service appropriately.
This progressive plan has been produced to define and explain our ambitions for the next four years during a period when the fire and rescue service, both locally and nationally, is undergoing the most significant period of change for several decades.
Having considered the results of the previous consultation exercises, alongside the work that has been carried out to profile the risk in Cumbria, we believe that we have never been better informed as to where we should focus our efforts. The fire risk profile of Cumbria is explained in this document, together with an assessment of our performance historically and our intervention standards for the future.
The approach outlined in this document will begin a process of change which we believe will result in significantly improving the safety of people’s lives"