Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from County Councillor Peter Britcliffe, County Councillor Andrea Kay, County Councillor Paul Rigby and County Councillor Ron Woollam.

Members are asked to consider any pecuniary/non-pecuniary interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the agenda.

None received.

RESOLVED: - That the Minutes of the last meeting held on the 15 December 2021 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Area Manager, Mark Hutton, presented a detailed report to the Performance Committee. This was the 3rd quarterly report for 2021/22 as detailed in the Integrated Risk Management Plan 2017-2022.

This quarter, 3 KPIs were shown in red which indicated that they were in negative exception. These were 2.3 Fire Engine Availability – Wholetime, Day Crewing and Day Crewing Plus, 2.4 Fire Engine Availability – On Call Duty System: and 4.2.1 Staff Absence – Excluding On-Call Duty System.

Members examined each indicator in turn as follows:

KPI 1 – Preventing, fires and other emergencies from happening and Protecting people and property when fires happen

1.1       Risk Map

This indicator measured the fire risk in each Super Output Area. Risk was determined using fire activity over the previous 3 fiscal years along with a range of demographic data, such as population and deprivation. Area Manager, Mark Hutton, explained that the County risk map score was updated annually and would be presented to the Performance Committee in the report for quarter 1 of 2022/23.

The standard was to reduce the risk in Lancashire – an annual reduction in the County risk map score.

The current score was 31,862 and the previous year’s score was 32,448 meaning that the fire risk continued to reduce.

1.2       Overall Activity

This indicator measured the number of incidents that the Service attended with one or more pumping appliances.

Quarter 3 activity 4,616 previous year quarter 3 activity 4,111 an increase of 12.28% over the same quarter of the previous year.

Incidents attended consisted of a myriad of different types. The report presented a chart which represented the count and percentage that each activity had contributed to the overall quarter’s activity; most notably was that 52% were false alarms.

Area Manager, Mark Hutton, advised that the new attendance policy for Automatic Fire Alarms (AFAs), would be introduced by the Service from 1 April 2022 for non-sleeping risk premises during the day (08:00hrs to 19:00hrs), as it was found that 99.5% of AFAs from these building types were false alarms. The Service had undertaken a three-month business engagement and implementation phase.

1.3      Accidental Dwelling Fires

This indicator reported the number of primary fires where a dwelling had been affected and the cause of the fire had been recorded as 'Accidental' or 'Not known'.

It was noted that quarter 3 activity was 212, the previous year quarter 3 activity was 231, which represented a decrease of 8.23% over the same quarter of the previous year.

It was stated by Area Manager, Mark Hutton, that the Service actively worked to reduce ADFs with many targeted campaigns established.

1.3.1   Accidental Dwelling Fires – Extent of Damage (Fire Severity)

This indicator reported the number of primary fires where a dwelling had been affected and the cause of the fire had been recorded as ‘Accidental or Not known’ presented as a percentage extent of fire and heat damage.

The extent of fire and heat damage was recorded at the time the ‘stop’ message was sent  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23-20/21

(Verbal Report)

Area Manager, Mark Hutton, explained that the Family Group Comparative Performance Report was brought to the committee once per year. The information was provided by the Home Office and the report compared the performance of Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service with a number of other Services in the ‘family group. The report would usually be brought to the Committee in quarter 4, however, the Service had access to broader national data and Area Manager, Mark Hutton, proposed that when the report was brought to Committee, rather than just the historical family group, additional information could be provided for all Fire and Rescue Services in England. This would provide the opportunity for the performance of Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service to be compared in a broader context and not be limited to the family group.

RESOLVED :- That the Performance Committee noted the report and approved the inclusion of national data.

Group Manager Prevention, Kirsty McCreesh, summarised that BrightSparx was a major campaign based around the Bonfire period that included work undertaken across the Service and with a multitude of partners which had contributed to some of the positive performance reported earlier in relation to antisocial behaviour fires, deliberate fires and accidental fires which. The preparatory work had started in May. The campaign was data driven following the principles of the Equality Impact Assessment and applied information collected from previous years to ensure a targeted approach to issues.

A multi-faceted approach was used, working across many departments within the Service. The Prevention department created the campaign, and the Comms department used social media to promote education packages to schools, community groups and faith groups. The Protection department worked with Trading Standards to assure the safe sale and storage of fireworks.

Group Manager Prevention, Kirsty McCreesh, explained that the campaign involved a multi-agency approach, working in collaboration with Local Authorities, the Police, North West Ambulance Service and Community Groups.

The BrightSparx campaign objectives for 2021 aimed to: i) maximise public and responder safety; ii) encourage public to attend the LFRS’ Virtual Fireworks event or public events; iii) target resources at areas of greatest risk based on incident intelligence and data; iv) address legal compliance regarding safe storage and sale of fireworks; v) identify and work closely with appropriate partners to reduce risk and provide effective and safe responses and; (vi) to reassure members of the public.

Group Manager Prevention, Kirsty McCreesh, informed that the BrightSparkx education package had been delivered virtually to 12,505 learners and in person to 4,683 learners, targeting areas of need. The Service had worked in partnership with local authorities to remove waste alongside arson vulnerability assessments for derelict buildings and, joint working had taken place between LFRS and trading standards with 164 premises recorded and followed up regarding firework storage. In addition, five multi-agency assessment vehicles were used with support by additional flexi duty officers. The Service also worked with the media and had shared safety messages, using social media, that had reached over 3 million people. 

Due to the pandemic, in 2020, the Service had streamed a virtual bonfire event and building on its success, a fireworks display was streamed in 2021. It also provided the opportunity to deliver safety messages and raise awareness of the broader remit of Lancashire Fire and Rescue such as, the cadet unit and the use of drones. The video was broadcast live on both Facebook and YouTube and reached over 20,000 people.

Anti-social behaviour fires during the 2021 BrightSparx campaign recorded the lowest number over the last five years. This was a 29.9% decrease over the previous year and a 52.4% decrease over the five year high of 290 recorded in 2017. The number of attacks on firefighters over the bonfire night period had also decreased over the last five years with 3 recorded in 2021 compared to 8 in 2017, although no level of attacks were tolerable.

It  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25-20/21

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee has been agreed for 10:00 hours on 29 June 2022 in Washington Hall, Service Training Centre, Euxton.

Further meetings are:    scheduled for 14 September 2022 and 14 December 2022

                                           proposed for 15 March 2023

The next meeting of the Committee would be held on 29 June 2022 at 10:00 hours in Washington Hall, Service Training Centre, Euxton.

Further meeting dates were noted for 14 September 2022 and 14 December 2022 and agreed for 15 March 2023.