Agenda item

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that the report updated on progress of the Blue Light Collaboration Board (BLCB). He attended the Strategic Board and Area Manager, John Rossen who attended was involved at tactical level.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer updated Members on the progress against the five key workstreams, which were effectively managed through the Strategic and Tactical Collaboration Boards, as follows: -

1.     Missing Persons (missing from home)

Significant support had been provided to Lancashire Constabulary (LanCon) with the Service’s aerial drone assets, supported by a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Furthermore, the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) had supported other organisations, including the Environment Agency (EA).

On average, per year, the Service received around 200 drone requests from LanCon which were mostly for Missing Person searches. The Deputy Chief Fire Officer had conversed with the Assistant Chief Constable and discussions had commenced with LanCon in relation to LFRS recharging for some services, given the on-call nature of its drone team and each deployment having a budgetary impact for the Service. It was noted that LanCon did not have a 24-hour drone team in operation. Nationally, an MoU was being developed between the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and EA to better co-ordinate future drone activity.

Additionally, the Service provided an underwater search capability with assistance recently requested by HM Coastguard. LFRS had responded and the underwater deployment immediately de-escalated the incident, which had significantly reduced the number of resources required from several agencies, for what would normally be a protracted incident.

2.     Estates and Co-location

This was a long-term workstream which might deliver significant efficiencies and effectiveness where co-location sites were identified.

A set of principles were being developed to identify high level areas of opportunities. Blue Light partners were currently reviewing their strategic property asset plans to identify areas for co-ordinating future development plans over the next 5-10 years.

All Blue Light partners were included in the discussions and options in relation to Preston area provision.

3.     Community First Responder

A trial had commenced in 2023 that involved LFRS staff volunteering as Community First Responders (CFR) to support North West Ambulance Service (NWAS). LFRS staff volunteers would undertake an initial CFR training programme at LFRS Training Centra and once qualified, they could shadow existing CFR practitioners to develop their clinical abilities and build confidence in their newly acquired skills.

Five LFRS staff volunteers were now responding to life threatening emergencies in their communities from the workplace and administering first aid in the initial vital minutes before NWAS colleagues arrived. During 2023, the Service responded to more than 80 CFR incidents including unresponsive/ collapsed, not breathing, cardiac arrests, seizures, strokes, and choking. It was noted that a member of staff from the Community Fire Safety Team, when acting as a CFR, performed first aid when he responded to a case of cardiac arrest which kept the woman alive until an ambulance arrived, saving her life.

The Service was expanding its support to NWAS on this successful, life-saving initiative and 10 Flexible-Duty Officers (FDOs) were progressing through the onboarding process with NWAS.

4.     Leadership Development

Learning and Development leads from the Blue Light partners were considering leadership development collaboration opportunities.

An analysis of leadership development was ongoing between the three organisations with the Services currently exploring an additional mentorship programme for command and control.

5.     Command Units

The aim of this project was to establish and deliver additional collaborative uses of the command units in LFRS to support effective multi-agency working amongst emergency responders. The key objectives were to improve operational effectiveness and in line with LFRS’ mission; ‘Making Lancashire Safer’.

The new Command Support Unit (CSU) was listed in this years’ Service Plan and sought to upgrade not only the vehicles but to take advantage in recent technological advances to support operational incidents. On-Call firefighters from Carnforth and Bolton-le-Sands crewed the CSU.

As part of the agreed capital vehicle replacement project, two new larger Command Units (CUs) would also be hosted by Fulwood and Blackburn Fire Stations. The CUs featured state of the art technology with 5G and Starlink connectivity, Tesla satellite, computer terminals, and a briefing room. Members were informed that the vehicle would be taken to a future CFA Meetings for them to peruse.

It was expected that the initial benefits to be realised would be technological advances that would further develop information sharing and situational awareness aligned to improving and embedding the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP). Further scoping and development would be overseen by the Blue Light Collaboration board to ensure opportunities for joint working were effectively co-ordinated and delivered.

In response to a question from County Councillor Hennessy regarding the difference between Police and Fire Service debriefs following incidents, the Deputy Chief Fire Officer stated that he could not comment on police debriefings. However, he assured that LFRS debriefed following every incident when Officers would make comments via an iPad app and information would be collated by the Operational Assurance Team where any trends would be noted. Where there was a more protracted incident full, structured and command debriefs took place. He would raise the subject of debriefing at the next collaboration board meeting to encourage the exchange of any beneficial practices between the Service and the Police.

Following on from the question raised by County Councillor Hennessy, the Assistant Chief Fire Officer added that, following multi-agency incidents, the Service typically debriefed through the Local Resilience Forum (LRF) alongside the Police. Furthermore, that the debrief approaches tended to differ in style with both having merits; LFRS approach was to ask questions that related to specific themes and aimed to elicit a detailed response, whereas his experience of the Police technique was more focussed on what had, and what had not, worked well, and any changes which were needed.

County Councillor Rigby felt that drones were rightly located at LFRS but did not agree with recharging for drone use as he felt that it could cause a threat to life if not used due to costs. The Deputy Chief Fire Officer explained that the Police had a Drone Team although they were not available 24 hours per day unlike the LFRS Drone Team, who were. LFRS had chosen to fund for drones, and although the Service supported the Police, drone response for Police incidents was their statutory responsibility and not that of LFRS. The Service would continue to support the Police, however, LFRS needed to manage its resources, budget, and statutory work. Ultimately, recharging for drone use was a Member decision. County Councillor Dad agreed that the drone service needed to be provided to the Police but also understood that the costs needed to be recovered because of their statutory responsibility. County Councillor Hennessy and County Councillor Singleton agreed with the decision to recharge for drone usage as LFRS had chosen to invest from its own resources.

County Councillor Shedwick commented that the Fire Service continued to do its fair share of the work in terms of collaboration.

The Chair thanked officers for a brilliant report and commended the advanced technology in use by the Service.

Resolved: That the Planning Committee noted the report.