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

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

In 2023/24 our key objectives were to:

Review resourcing with a particular focus on the emergency cover in the Ashfield area, following the findings of the Fire Cover Review in 2022
Deliver 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 for improvements included:

Work towards the replacement of our mobilising system in partnership with our colleagues in Joint Fire Control and Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service
Continue to invest in new fire appliances and specialist vehicles
Review our mobile technology to improve access to information for our Crews, including providing additional mobile radio capability to improve communications at incidents

During 2023/24:

We increased operational resource at Ashfield Fire Station which is now staffed 24 hours a day
We responded to incidents in an average time of eight minutes and fifteen seconds
We attended 10,595 incidents, a decrease of 7% when compared to 2022/23
A reduction in wildfires due to less extreme temperatures than those experienced in 2022/23 saw a 30% decrease in fires to 2,804 incidents
We attended 1,335 incidents which involved rescues and humanitarian assistance from either buildings, vehicles, water, confined spaces, or heights. This represented a very small decrease when compared to 2022/23 (1,341)
We attended 560 road traffic collisions, a decrease of 4% when compared to 2022/23
We responded to 2,239 special service calls such as assisting East Midlands Ambulance Service and responding to flooding. This was an increase of 6% on 2022/23 partly due to the impact of extreme weather events including Storm Babet and Storm Henk
We delivered 765 training courses, attended by 3994 delegates, from a portfolio of 140 different training courses

In 2023/24 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 with wholetime crews
Four with a mix of wholetime and on-call crews
12 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 wet weather experienced in the Autum and Winter led to the declaration of two major incidents related to Storm Babet in October, and Storm Henk in January. During this period our fire engines were busier than usual attending special service calls and sometimes had to travel further or stay longer at incidents than we would normally expect.

This contributed to the average time that it took for response crews to attend some incidents exceeding our eight-minute target by fifteen seconds in 2023/24.

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.

In June we responded to a serious incident in Nottingham City Centre in which three members of our community tragically lost their lives.

The incident involved a joint response from the emergency services and other partners from across the region, highlighting that we may be called upon to provide a response to incidents other than those which we are more commonly associated.

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

Exercises

To ensure we are prepared, and to test our response to emergencies, we have a structured exercise programme. Exercises range from small district-level exercises, to large multi-agency scenarios.

In 2023/24 we conducted:

51 practical exercises and 62 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
15 other specialist training events specifically to test our effectiveness in working with other emergency partners

We also participated in large scale multi-agency exercises alongside our emergency service partners to ensure that we are able to work collectively to resolve incidents.

Most notably, one at Nottingham Ice Arena which tested our joint response to a significant emergency incident at an entertainment venue.

Wholetime Resourcing

In response to findings in our most recent Fire Cover Review, in November 2023 we made changes to the resourcing at Ashfield Fire Station to ensure the most effective emergency cover. Twenty-four wholetime supervisory managers and firefighters, split over four Watches, now provide 24 hour cover every day of the year.

Productivity

The performance of response crews in the delivery of our other services continued to improve in 2023/24. Last year, response crews delivered:

13,329 Safe & Well Visits (a 6% increase on 2022/23) enabling the service to exceed its target of 14,000 by over 12%
1,029 Business Safety Checks, which is nearly double the number completed in 2022/23 and surpassed the target that had been set
174 community befriending scheme activities

In addition, response crews have supported community safety education events, maintained operational competence through engagement in a full training and exercise programme, and ensured that all 542 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.

With the assistance of our on-call support team throughout 2023/24 our on-call appliance availability averaged 86.47%. This exceeded our target of 85%, making us one of the best performing services for on-call availability in the country.

Specialist appliance review

During 2023/24 we continued the implementation of 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.

Projects to replace our aerial ladder capability and command support unit, and to introduce a new rural firefighting vehicle progressed with new appliances due to arrive in service during 2024/25.

New fire appliances

We have purchased 17 new fire appliances which are currently being built and will come into service during 2024/25. The new vehicles are being constructed with the ‘clean cab’ concept in mind, which will help protect our firefighters from potential contaminants and carcinogens following operational incidents.

Replacement Mobilising System (RMS)

During 2023/24 we began the process of implementing a replacement mobilising system in collaboration with our colleagues at Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service. This is a significant strategic project for both services, We have now awarded contracts and the replacement system is expected to be in use by October 2025.

Operational equipment

During 2023/24 we replaced some of the operational equipment carried on our fire appliances. This included:

New Automated external defibrillators
Ropes used for working at height incidents
New branches for firefighting foam application
Portable LED lighting
Water rescue poles and attachments
High pressure airbags on the Specialist Rescue Units

To improve communications at incidents we have procured additional radio equipment for our crews to use at incidents.

Decontamination facilities

During 2023/24 we have procured and installed specialist washing equipment at our Service Development Centre and Mansfield Fire Station. The new facilities will be able to deep clean breathing apparatus sets following operational incidents, where they can become contaminated with harmful carbonaceous and carcinogenic particles.

The equipment forms part of our ongoing commitment to protecting our crews from the toxins and products of combustion which can be encountered while doing their job.