Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from County Councillor Peter 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 17 March 2021 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer presented a detailed report to the Committee which included an overview of the annual performance.  This was the 4th quarterly report for 2020/21 as detailed in the Risk Management Plan 2017-2022, and the end of the Performance year.

The members were informed by the Deputy Chief Fire Officer, that a discussion had taken place with the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Performance Committee concerning proposed amendments to the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). It was noted that a report regarding these proposals would be submitted to a future Performance Committee meeting and then, onto the CFA.

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.

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

The current score 32,448, previous year score 31,816.

1.2       Overall Activity

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

Quarter 4 activity 3,725 previous year quarter 4 activity 3,849 a decrease of 3.22% 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.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer updated Members regarding the overall incident number. He advised that an increase in incidents did not necessarily mean a drop in performance. For example, where the Service supported the ambulance service to gain entry, it was a positive activity to undertake.  

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 4 activity was 214, the previous year quarter 4 activity was 196, which represented an increaseof 9.18% over the same quarter. Overall performance for the year was 869 compared with 811 the previous year.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that there had been a slight increase in Accidental Dwelling Fire incident numbers in the last quarter which could be due to the pandemic and people spending more time in their homes. Home fire safety checks and community safety activity had resulted in a plateau of the 3-year mean average number of incidents.

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

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised this indicator set out the damage which had occurred from Accidental Dwelling Fire incidents. He was pleased to report that whilst incident numbers remained fairly static the level of damage sustained was reducing due to proactive  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4-20/21

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee has been agreed for 10:00 hours on 15 September 2021 in Washington Hall, at Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service Training Centre, Euxton.

Further meetings are:          scheduled for 15 December 2021 and 16 March 2022

                                                proposed for 29 June 2022

The next meeting of the Committee would be held on 15 September 2021 at 10:00 hours in Washington Hall, at Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service Training Centre, Euxton.

Further meeting dates were noted for 15 December 2021 and 16 March 2022  and agreed for 29 June 2022.