Strategic Goal 3: We will respond immediately and effectively to emergency incidents

This goal focuses on our statutory duty to respond to emergencies.

In 2022/23 our key objectives were:

Deliver routine training and revalidation to maintain the skills and competence of operational staff
Respond to incidents within an average time of eight minutes
Work collaboratively with regional partners to improve the effectiveness of our response to incidents

Our focus on improvement included:

Reviewing our initial firefighter training programme
Implementing a new computer system to manage the rostering of operational staff
Implementing the recommendations of the Special Appliances Review conducted in 2021
Assessing the findings of the ongoing pilot to test alternate contracts for on-call firefighters and make recommendations for future implementation

During the year:

We attended 11,343 incidents, an increase of 12% on 2021/22. This included 4,024 fires – an increase of 19% on 2021/22. Of these, 1,141 fires involved vegetation such as wildfires, woodland and grassland
We attended 1,341 incidents which involved rescues and humanitarian assistance from either buildings, vehicles, water, confined spaces, or heights. In 2021/22 this figure was 1,347
We attended 582 road traffic collisions – an increase of 3% on 2021/22
We responded to 2,111 special service calls such as assisting East Midlands Ambulance Service and responding to flooding. This was an increase of 5% on 2021/22
We delivered 701 training courses, attended by 3083 delegates, from a portfolio of 149 different training courses
We implemented Fire Service Rota, our new rostering system
We made changes to the location of some of our specialist capabilities, following our special appliances review

Other Highlights

In 2022/23 you continued to be served by 30 fire engines and a range of specialised vehicles at 24 fire stations across our County.

Our stations are made up of:

Eight stations with wholetime crews
Four stations with a mix of wholetime and on-call crews (two with a mixed crewing model)
12 stations with on-call crews

When we receive a 999 call for help, we respond immediately with the nearest appropriate fire engine and specialist equipment for the size and type of incident.

The exceptionally hot weather experienced in July and August 2022 led to a 136% increase in fires when compared to the same months in 2021, and to the declaration of three major incidents. This busy period meant our fire engines were busier than usual and sometimes had to travel further or stay longer at incidents than we would normally expect. This led to an increase in the average time that it took for response crews to attend some incidents. Overall, our average attendance time was fifteen seconds over our eight-minute target for 2022/23.

Local Resilience

We have continued to work collaboratively with our regional partners to receive and provide operational assistance. We have maintained our agreements to ensure that we can provide mutual resilience, particularly at times of increased demand.

Using the Joint Emergency Services Operating Principles (JESIP), we work alongside other emergency services. Using these common operating principles, we deal with incidents effectively and minimise impact to our communities.

Many larger incidents require multiple partners to work together to resolve the incident. We are an active member of the Nottinghamshire Local Resilience Forum. This statutory partnership of emergency services and other key partners, works together to share skills, information, and expertise to build, test and exercise the Community Risk Register. This ensures that all partners are ready for an effective response when needed.

National Resilience

The National Resilience Capabilities Programme (NRCP) is the government’s central programme to increase the capability to respond to major incidents. As part of this we can be called upon to provide assistance locally, or if required, regionally or nationally.

Training and Competence

We have around 650 firefighters who are trained to deal with a variety of incidents, to a high standard through:

Practical and face-to-face training at our Service Development Centre
Station-based training
Training exercises for different types of incidents
E-learning

This year, we have conducted a review of our initial firefighter training programme. The focus of the review was to ensure that we continue to provide safe and effective firefighter training and support.

From the review, key changes have been made to the programme. These include:

Improved provision of pre-course and induction information
Enhanced EDI content
Integration of the Core Code of Ethics
Additional course content on hazardous materials, building construction and command support awareness

Command Training

In 2022 we developed an accredited command course for middle managers which allowed us to deliver this training internally for the first time. This allowed us to focus our training on local risks. It also generated significant cost savings.

Exercises

To ensure we are prepared and to test our response to emergencies we have an exercise programme. Exercises range from small district level exercises, to large multi-agency scenarios that test how we work collectively with our emergency service partners to resolve incidents.

In 2022/23 we conducted:

34 practical exercises and 83 Tactical Decision Exercises (TDEs) that tested our capability in a range of emergency scenarios including, high rise buildings, major road traffic collisions, water rescues, terrorist attacks, and hazardous material releases
19 other specialist training events specifically to test our effectiveness in working with other emergency partners

Among these exercises were some specifically aimed at testing the changes to procedures implemented as part of our response to the recommendations from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. For example, we held TDEs based on fires at Victoria Centre flats and Nottingham Arena.

In March, we held a practical exercise at Highfields Fire Station and Joint Fire Control, based on a scenario which involved a fire in a high-rise building with several people inside. The exercise tested a number of systems in place to support people who may otherwise have difficulty making emergency calls. These included the SMS system, Pegasus (a service aimed at people with learning difficulties), the BSL999 service (a translation service for BSL speakers), and the language translation service (for people who do not speak English). The exercise involved members of Pulp Friction, a social enterprise working with people who have learning difficulties and /or autism to develop their social independence and work readiness. Some of their members were asked to play the role of callers reporting a fire, which gave them practical experience of using 999, and highlighted to them the value of the What3Words application.

Productivity

Despite the increased number of incidents, the performance of response crews in other areas has continued to improve. In 2022/23 response crews delivered 12,554 Safe & Well Visits (enabling the Service to exceed its target for the year), undertook 531 Business Safety Checks (surpassing the annual target), supported community safety education events, maintained operational competence through engagement in a full training and exercise programme, and ensured that all 527 documents relating to Site Specific Risk Information were kept up to date.

On-call Availability

We have worked hard over the past year to further develop the sustainability of the on-call workforce, including the ongoing recruitment and training of additional employees.

During 2022/23 we trialled variations to the traditional on-call contract of employment, with the aim of making the on-call role attractive to more people, and enhancing retention. The outcomes of this trial are being considered and further work will be undertaken in 2023/24 with a view to enabling the introduction of alternative contracts in the near future.

With the assistance of our on-call support team throughout 2022/23 our on-call appliance availability averaged 87.07%. This exceeded our target of 85%.

Rostering

A rostering capability is an essential tool for planning the deployment of response staff, and for maximising the availability of our fire engines. In 2022/23 we introduced Fire Service Rota, a new rostering system that greatly improves the quality and auditability of the data we hold and provides new reporting mechanisms to support the performance and welfare management of all operational personnel.

Specialist Appliance Review

During 2022/23 we began to implement the recommendations of the special appliance review that was conducted in 2021/22. The review considered the efficiency and effectiveness of our special appliances fleet; how they meet the needs of our communities, where they are located, how they are crewed, and how they contribute to the mitigation of risk.

Changes have been implemented as a result. Our animal rescue provision is now based at Newark and our technical rope rescue capability is at Highfields. Projects to replace our aerial ladder capability, command support unit and welfare unit, and to introduce a new rural firefighting vehicle are underway.

Contingency Planning

During much of 2022/23 the national bodies representing employers and the workforce were in dispute over pay. This presented a significant risk to the Service of industrial action by operational staff. To ensure that we were able to continue to meet our statutory obligations and provide the best possible service in the event of any such action, we channelled resources into contingency planning and preparations. This involved a significant amount of resource, to create new ways of working, provide contingency staff with additional training, and ensure core systems and other logistical arrangements were in place to cope with a range of eventualities. Thankfully, the disputes were resolved without any industrial action; however, the work undertaken and learning points from it have been embedded within our business continuity plans.