Agenda item

The report provided an overview of Dynamic Resource Management (DRM) that had recently been implemented within Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS).

LFRS had robust systems in place to monitor, manage, and dynamically deploy fire engines and firefighters to respond to emergencies across Lancashire. There were 58 fire engines and a number of specialist appliances in the county, however some were often unavailable due to many reasons: ongoing incidents; training; maintenance, leave or sickness absence; unavailability of on-call staff; and other operational reasons.

When there was a crewing shortage, steps were taken to keep a fire engine or specialist appliance available, by bringing in firefighters from other stations (this was called detaching) or on overtime. With improved technology and access to more comprehensive data, the Service now had a greater understanding of fire risk across Lancashire. As a result, that approach had been changed to ensure sufficient resources were available in the areas that needed them and reduce unnecessary overtime.

Firefighters who crewed a second fire engine could be detached to maintain the availability of a first fire engine somewhere else, making that fire engine temporarily unavailable. This only occurred when the first fire engine was available as well as other fire engines in the area and this ensured that the Service maintained a balanced level of fire cover across the county.

Dynamic resource management had introduced smarter and more efficient deployment of firefighters based on county-wide risk and was used for advance planning. There were 39 fire stations across Lancashire: 22 of these had at least one wholetime crewed fire engine and 17 had at least one on-call fire engine. Additional wholetime, day-crewed or on-call fire engines were also available at some of those stations which meant they had two fire engines.

There were four fire stations with two wholetime crewed fire engines in the county: Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley, and Preston. All four also had other fire stations close by, with additional fire engines ready to respond. Previous policy was that when one of the two fire engines at the four stations with two wholetime engines was unavailable due to training or maintenance, it was not replaced or backfilled. However, if one was unavailable due to a crewing shortage (for example, due to leave or sickness) it was kept available by bringing in firefighters from other stations (this was called detached duties), or on overtime once detached duty options had been exhausted.

On 1 July 2025, the Service changed this approach to ensure sufficient resources were available to cover all risk areas across the county, using the latest technology and data. This provides the most effective and efficient use of resources for all communities across Lancashire. On some occasions, this also reduces costs through overtime requirements. For example, firefighters at the four stations which had two wholetime fire engines could be detached, making the second engine temporarily unavailable, to maintain availability of a first fire engine somewhere else in the county. This was a methodical and strategic decision that ensure that the Service maintained a balanced, risk-based level of fire cover across the whole of Lancashire.

Before detaching firefighters from a station with two fire engines and making one temporarily unavailable, the first fire engine must be available as well as other fire engines in the area. The Service ensured a fire engine was available at every wholetime station in the county as a minimum. Detachments were always used where possible before overtime, although overtime was still required on some occasions.

Dynamic resource management was underpinned by a Dynamic Cover Tool (DCT) which continuously assessed community risk and fire engine availability in real-time. This software provided officers and control room operators at North West Fire Control (NWFC) with visual data in real-time to make decisions on how best to deploy resources. The Service could see at any given time where live incidents were located, which fire engines were attending, which fire engines were available, and which were temporarily offline for training, maintenance, or crewing.

The position changed all the time as incidents occurred and crews attended, so the DCT enabled us to respond quickly to a changing picture of risk and demand, positioning firefighters and fire engines in precisely the locations they were needed. This model of ‘dynamic cover’ had replaced a static model of pre-arranged fire engine moves which did not take live incidents and availability of other resources into account. It allowed us to respond flexibly to changing circumstances while continuing to meet response standards.

LFRS’ response standards were among the fastest in the country for building fires and critical special service calls. The Service had robust, data intelligent systems in place to monitor, manage, and dynamically deploy fire engines and firefighters to respond to emergencies across Lancashire.

The Service’s mobilising systems know the exact location of every fire engine, based on automatic vehicle locations systems, so that the nearest and quickest fire engine was sent to all critical incidents. LFRS were committed to ensuring that every community in Lancashire received a fast and effective emergency response.

LFRS had undertaken a three-month initial evaluation of DRM, with the full evaluation in Appendix 1. Since 1 July 2025, DRM had been used a total of 124 times in quarter 2 (Q2). This represented that DRM had been enacted 17% of available shifts across the four stations. Critical fire response times at DRM stations had increased by 6 seconds in Q2 2025 compared with Q2 in 2024, whereas response times across all stations over the same period had increased by 20 seconds, highlighting that DRM had not had detrimental impacts on response times.

Critical special service call response times at DRM stations had increased by 52 seconds in Q2 2025 compared with Q2 2024, whereas response times across all stations over the same period had increased by 11 seconds. Whilst this was a higher increase than overall, response times remained substantially under the 13-minute average response time target, and Key Performance Indicator demonstrated that performance levels continued to be met since the introduction of DRM.

The average number of Wholetime fire engines available had reduced by one from 1 July 2025, which has been offset by an increase in On-Call fire engine availability over the same period. Combined availability had resulted in LFRS maintaining an average of 48 fire engines available at any one time since DRM had been instigated, which was higher than the average availability over the same period last year.

The total cost of overtime shifts across Q2 2025 was £24,166. For the same period in 2024, the overtime bill was £289,342, this equated to a saving of £265,175. This figure includes on-costs (such as national insurance) and was for overtime shifts directly related to maintaining fire engine availability. To enable direct comparison, one pay figure had been used (2025), therefore the 2024 cost would be slightly over reported. The numbers of detachments in Q2 2025 rose by 19% from 1197 in 2024, to 1420 in 2025. In Q2 2025 the cost of detachments was £11,200, in 2024 the cost of detachments in Q2 was £10,000 (equivalent including pay rise), representing a 12% increase in 2025.

Enacting DRM and temporarily removing a resource from a two-pump station for a shift was anticipated to reduce the available time to complete prevention and protection activity. Overall, LFRS operational crews carried out 20% less Business Fire Safety Checks (BFSC) in Q2 2025 compared with Q2 2024, and 14% less Home Fire Safety Checks (HFSC) over the same period. Stations where DRM occurred had experienced a similar drop in Business Fire Safety Check (BFSC) numbers but a higher drop in Home Fire Safety Check (HFSC) numbers (-28%).

It was also anticipated that enacting DRM would impact the activity at neighbouring stations due to an increase in mobilisations. Whilst mobilisation numbers had increased for some surrounding fire engines, activity levels remained within tolerable levels, and most were within standard deviation. We had also seen a similar drop in BFSC and HFSC at those neighbouring stations aligned to increased operational activity.

DRM had provided efficiency savings whilst maintaining excellent operational response performance within the standards set by Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

The Chair asked a question regarding the impact on the Service provided by reducing overtime. The ACFO explained that the Service had not observed a significant impact on response times as it was approx. 20 seconds across the whole of the county. Resources were placed in areas of risk.

In response to a question from County Councillor J Tetlow, it was noted that whilst Trade Unions had raised some concerns over some aspects of the DRM, they also acknowledged the need for the Service to make efficiencies. The Service assured that the efficiencies could be managed through the DRM, ensuring that standards were maintained in a way that was proportionate to risk.

County Councillor J Tetlow recognised the savings made thus far. 

Resolved:- That the Performance Committee noted the report and evaluation.