Agenda item

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer advised that the report updated on progress of the ongoing workstreams that were being progressed under the Blue Light Collaboration Board. The workstreams were being managed effectively through both the Strategic and Tactical Boards to support and deliver the key workstreams which were: -

i)   Missing Persons (missing from home)

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) had increasing experience and could provide local or specialist advice for consideration by Lancashire Constabulary (LanCon). Searches had become streamlined which allowed a more structured and effective approach to locating a high-risk missing person. The Service’s drone development (aerial and sub-surface), for which LFRS had the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) lead role, had further enhanced their capabilities for Missing Person Searches. LFRS had provided significant support to LanCon with their aerial drone assets, supported by an updated Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Further investment in 2023/24 led to the service strengthening sub-surface rescue/ recovery capability of persons, with an underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). This asset had been deployed regionally and nationally including Carlisle, Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire, Birmingham, and Norfolk

and had delivered improved outcomes for incident resolution.

LFRS received around 200 drone requests last year from LanCon, with most requests for Missing Persons searches.

In response to a question from County Councillor Hennessy in relation to the Drone Team succession planning, the Deputy Chief Fire Officer confirmed that the team was made up of eight operational staff and several reservists with the team operating on an on-call basis. The drone was deployed with a minimum of two, although it could be deployed with one.

ii)  Estates and Co-location

This was a longer-term workstream which would 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 reviewing property asset management strategies to identify potential areas for co-ordinating future development plans over the next 5-10 years.

All Blue light partners were included in the discussions in relation to future opportunities. All current locations for each organisation had been mapped, with the focus moving to the understanding of longer-term plans for each service, consideration of site sharing opportunities at existing locations, along with a procedure to facilitate site sharing. The LFRS ‘Preston Area Review’ continued to be discussed and considered with Blue light partners regarding collaboration opportunities for the area.

In addition to the physical estate and site sharing, Blue light partners had identified other areas for learning, development and sharing of information in support of providing efficient and effective estate management within respective organisations.

iii)          Community First Responder

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

5 LFRS staff volunteers had been responding to life threatening emergencies in their communities from the workplace and administering life-saving interventions in the initial vital minutes before NWAS colleagues arrived. During 2023, LFRS responded to more than 80 CFR incidents including unresponsive/ collapsed, not breathing, cardiac arrests, seizures, strokes, and choking. This had resulted in many successful outcomes.

The Service had now expanded their support to NWAS on the successful life-saving initiative. 8 LFRS Flexible-Duty Officers (FDOs) completed their 4-day CFR training in July and were also responding to critical medical emergencies across Lancashire.

The Chair ask that it be noted and gave thanks to Community First Responder, Andy Dow, who had saved the lives of two people in two separate incidents.

iv)          Leadership Development

Blue Light partners had scoped collaboration opportunities for leadership development. Each Service would host a leadership development event for middle and senior leaders from all Blue light partner organisations, with LFRS hosting the first event in October 2024.

v)            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 among emergency responders. The key objectives were to improve operational effectiveness and in line with LFRS’ mission; ‘Making Lancashire Safer’.

The Command Support Unit (CSU) project aimed to upgrade the vehicles and adopt technological advancements to support operational incidents. On-Call firefighters crewed a CSU, and as part of the agreed capital vehicle replacement project, two new larger Command Units (CUs) were now operational and had been deployed to several incidents, with excellent feedback received from the firefighters, FDOs, and partner agencies. LFRS continued to demonstrate the unit and software to other fire and rescue services with a visit from Northern Ireland FRS in May, and a further visit from several other FRS’ in June. The Service had also hosted multi-agency familiarisations, including in June for the Blackburn-with-Darwen Emergency Planning Team.

The benefits realised included improved information sharing and situational awareness, aligned to improving and embedding the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP). This successful workstream had transitioned to business as usual.

Resolved: That the Planning Committee noted the report.