Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from County Councillor P Britcliffe.

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 29 November 2018 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised Members that this was the 3rd quarterly report for 2018/19 as detailed in the Risk Management Plan 2017-2022.  The report showed there were 6 negative KPI Exception Reports. An exception report was provided which detailed the reasons for the exception, analysis of the issue and actions being taken to improve performance. 

Members focussed on the indicators where an exception report was presented and examined each indicator in turn as follows:-

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'.

Quarter 3 activity 226, previous year quarter 3 activity 264, a decrease of 15%.

Total number of Accidental Dwelling Fires – Year to Date, 632.

This was a negative exception report due to Accidental Dwelling Fires (ADF’s) having a single point in December above the upper control limit.

It was noted that December was always a challenging month for the Service, a recording of 105 ADF’s against a limit of 98.  The months of October and November both recorded below average activity levels.  However, encouragingly, the cumulative number of incidents to date was the lowest over the previous 10 years at 632.  This was 10% fewer than the same position last year and 31% than 10 years ago. 

In response to a question raised by the Chairman, County Councillor Holgate, the Assistant Chief Fire Officer confirmed that the main cause of ADF’s during the month of December was seasonal which related to cooking incidents and people heating their homes.  In terms of actions being taken by the Service in relation to cooking and fires the Winter Safety campaign, ‘Keep it clean, keep it clear’ was continuing and Community Fire Safety teams had shared campaign leaflets and promotional material with Partner agencies to highlight best practice and offer of Home Fire Safety Checks to those most vulnerable.  This had proved to be a successful campaign across Lancashire.

In addition, there was a significant amount of work which continued to take place which includes: safety initiatives and collaboration with partners continued around the county with: Student Safe, Dementia cafes and work with Community groups which were all ongoing during the Winter period.

In response to a question raised by County Councillor Perks, the Assistant Chief Fire Officer reported that primarily cooking related incidents were the largest proportion of incidents.  In addition, the problematic groups were discussed and it was confirmed that the Service continued to target and raise awareness within those vulnerable groups.

In response to a question raised by Councillor Dave Smith, the Assistant Chief Fire Officer confirmed that the majority of the incidents were reported during the festival period and towards the end of December.

2.1.1   Emergency Response Standards - Critical Fires – 1st Fire Engine Attendance

This indicator reported the ‘Time of Call’ (TOC) and ‘Time in Attendance’ (TIA) of the first fire engine arriving at the incident in less than  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14/18

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee has been agreed for 10:00 hours on 27 June 2019 in the Main Conference Room, at Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service Headquarters, Fulwood.

Further meetings are:           scheduled for 19 September 2019 and 28 November 2019

                                                proposed for 4 March 2020

The next meeting of the Committee would be held on 27 June 2019 at 1000 hours in the Main Conference Room at Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Fulwood.

Further meeting dates were noted for 19 September 2019 and 28 November 2019 and agreed for 4 March 2020.