Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Z Khan and County Councillors C Crompton and T Aldridge.

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 1 December 2016 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer introduced Area Manager Charters who gave Members a brief update on 2 major fire incidents that had occurred the previous evening.

1.    Six fire engines from Darwen, Blackburn, Hyndburn and Preston had attended a fire involving a thatched roof at a house in Mellor. Firefighters used 2 breathing apparatus, a hose reel, a ladder, 3 jets and 2 pumps to get the fire under control. There were no injuries reported and the cause of the fire was under investigation.

2.    A more significant incident was a fire at Alston Hall, Longridge.  When the first fire engines arrived at the scene they found a large fire involving the three storey heritage building which was approximately 40 metres by 40 metres in size. The fire was affecting at least 30% of the building and firefighters requested 10 fire engines, 2 aerial ladder platforms and a command support unit to help bring the fire under control. The Arial Support Unit (drone) was also used to gather information; with images from the Unit tabled for Member information. The incident remained ongoing but had now been scaled down to 2 fire engines to allow damping down.  The fire had mostly affected the roof and the first floor however, the Service had been able to protect the key elements of the structure.  A fire investigation would begin later that morning.

The Committee asked that Members’ thanks be extended to all those involved.

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer then welcomed Sarah Wilson, Head of North West Fire Control and Ged Basson, Operations Manager, North West Fire Control who had been invited to attend to discuss the call handling Key Performance indicators.

Mrs Wilson presented Members with an update on how the move to North West Fire Control (NWFC) from Lancashire had added a greater degree of complexity and how technology was being used to support improvements.  She explained that NWFC data (measured as a mean average) was not directly comparable with LFRS’ data (which had been measured as a median average).  In addition LFRS measured critical fires and special service calls whereas NWFC measured priorities which meant the data sets were different; thereby making data comparison very difficult.

NWFC had been operating for 3 years in May this year and during that time there had been a lot of change.  Because NWFC operated on a regional basis it was important to consider outputs and outcomes:

·        People considerations included: individual performance, additional training and team performance by time of day / shift.  Currently there was a high level of staff turnover with 47% staff  ‘in development’ bearing in mind that it could take up to 2 years to achieve competence;

·        FRS Partner requirements involved the need to question callers and carry out additional actions with operators reading information and following rules to get the right resources to the right location.  The construction of resources in Lancashire, although complex, enabled all resources to be despatched at the same time which all extended the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15/16

(Oral report)

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised that it was reported at the previous meeting under KPI 1.2 – Overall Activity that there had been a significant increase in automatic fire alarms in the first 6 months of the year.  He confirmed that work had started to review this increase in order to define the Authority’s policy for the Service’s attendance to automatic fire alarms (AFA) with the aim of eliminating further unwanted calls.

The Chief Fire Officer added that the Emergency Cover Review process due this year presented an opportunity to review the Authority’s AFA policy and to present options for change to support further efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery.

RESOLVED: - That the report be noted.

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee has been agreed for 10:00 hours on Thursday 8 June 2017 in the Main Conference Room, at Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service Headquarters, Fulwood.

Further meetings are: scheduled for 14 September 2017 and 30 November 2017.

The next meeting of the Committee would be held on Thursday 8 June 2017 at 1000 hours in the Main Conference Room at Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Fulwood.

Further meeting dates were noted for: 14 September 2017 and 30 November 2017.