Agenda item

AM Norman presented the report.  Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) aimed to prevent fires and other emergencies such as road traffic collisions, flooding, wildfire and search and rescue activities from happening in the first place to make Lancashire safer.  LFRS focussed efforts on helping people start safe, live safe, age safe and use our roads safely; targeting our resources at those most vulnerable.

LFRS recognised their contribution to the wider community safety agenda and further work towards Making Lancashire Safer through engagement with local communities and partner organisations to raise awareness about fire risk.

The Prevention Strategy, as now considered by Members captured the prevention offer under the four themes of start safe, live safe, age safe and road safety. The Prevention Strategy supported the Integrated Risk Management Plan and demonstrated our commitment to community safety.  It set out how goals would be achieved, how prevention activities would be structured including safe and well visits and it detailed how success would be measured.

CC D O’Toole commented that the main aim was to prevent fire and although over the years there had been drastic reductions in fire deaths and greater awareness of fire safety he remained concerned that the change from the general provision of free smoke alarms to the more targeted approach now taken was a retrograde step.  In addition, he was concerned that people could have difficulty with replacement alarms if they proved faulty as the process now was to directly phone the supplier who would send a replacement through the post.  CC Shedwick commented that the battery life on some of the fire alarms was an ongoing concern.  The Assistant Chief Fire Officer confirmed that there was a period where the alarms installed were fitted with defective batteries and this was an issue not just specific to Lancashire.  He did think however, that given time this issue would be resolved.

CC Hennessy queried whether LFRS was able to respond to Lancashire County Council consultations regarding road conditions and the building of housing estates.  AM Norman confirmed that LFRS was consulted and did respond to those that were relevant including: setting out standards required to enable space and turning circles for fire appliances and commenting on housing developments to reinforce our road safety messages.  He confirmed that the LFRS advised putting sprinklers in all properties and ensured housing developers took responsibility for the provision of water (cost and maintenance of hydrants).

In relation to how goals would be achieved through the use of intelligence, CC Hennessy asked for clarification on what processes were involved and how the data was shared.  AM Norman advised that information was received from a number of other organisations; the most significant recently was a springboard data return which provided information for adult social care which included data on whether there was a care plan in place, medical issues identified etc.  It was noted that the Assistant Chief Fire Officer attended Lancashire Health and Wellbeing Board and internal analysis identified what our campaigns should be.

In response to a comment by CC Shedwick that it was important to collect data to identify hot spot areas to inform changes to speed limits the Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised that LFRS was a member of the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership (LRSP) and when an individual was killed or seriously injured an analyst who worked for the LRSP made a case for infrastructure changes or a reduction in the speed limit.

RESOLVED: - That the Prevention Strategy be approved.