The results of a public consultation on a package of Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service measures designed to preserve life and landscape will be considered by the county council’s cabinet when it meets next week (Tuesday 11 December).
A three month consultation on the Fire and Rescue Service’s fifth Draft Annual Action Plan, ended last week. The key elements in the Fire and Rescue Service plan which councillors will be asked to approve when they meet are:
* The introduction of a new deadline for the completion of free Home Safety Visits which any Cumbria resident can currently request by calling the freephone number 0800-358-4777.
* The installation of a new Community Safety Room at Kendal fire station to help the town’s firefighters get across important fire and accident prevention messages;
* More investment in a new strategy to combat wildfires and protect the county’s precious landscape.
Figures show that two in every three people who die in fires do so before the Fire and Rescue Service is even called - making it a priority for Cumbria firefighters to help people prevent fires from happening in the first place.
Since 2003, Cumbrian firefighters have carried out more than 30,000 free Home Safety Visits which are designed to make sure people have working smoke detectors and basic fire prevention advice. Over the same period, the number of people injured in accidental dwelling fires in the county has fallen by two thirds (65 per cent).
The new Home Safety Visit standards will give people a much clearer understanding of what to expect when they request the free service with new unambiguous completion deadlines.
Prevention also lies behind plans for a new state of the art Community Safety Room at Kendal fire station. The new £50,000 high-tech community classroom will enable firefighters to invite local community groups into the station and provide them with important safety information.
It will also be available free of charge to local schools, clubs and neighbourhood groups who in return will receive a basic fire or road safety message.
The need to preserve the county’s environmental heritage - and the thousands of jobs that depend upon it - from the ravages of wildfires, lies behind the proposal to invest £20,000 in new equipment and training to combat fell fires which can leave the countryside blackened and devoid of wildlife for decades.
Councillor Gary Strong, cabinet member responsible for Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service, said: "These proposals build upon the Fire & Rescue Service’s efforts to put fire and accident prevention on an equal footing with cure.
"The new investment in the plan will pay dividends in lives saved and landscape protected over the coming years."
Cumbria’s Chief Fire Officer Dominic Harrison said: "The plan to invest more in wildfire fighting is all about preserving Cumbria’s priceless environmental heritage and the jobs and livelihoods that depend upon it.
"Taken as a whole, the plan underlines our determination not to rest on our laurels and instead to continue in our innovative drive to make Cumbria a safer and securer place for everyone to live."
If approved by the county council’s cabinet next Tuesday, the plans will go before a meeting of the full council for final agreement in the New Year.
ENDS
Media enquiries to Mark Graham, Media Officer on 01228-606337
Note
Follow the link below to view the cabinet paper to be considered by councillors at their meeting on Tuesday 11 December. The paper includes responses received during the consultation period and replies from Cumbria Fire & Rescue Authority (CFRA) to each.
Follow this link to view the cabinet paper