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

This goal is focused on ensuring that we are ready to respond effectively and safely to incidents when they happen.

Over the life of the CRMP 2025-28, we will maintain our commitment to reaching all incidents within 8 minutes, on average, from the time the first fire appliance is mobilised. Maintaining a constant state of operational preparedness to respond to emergencies takes a significant proportion of the Service’s resources. Our focus over the next three years will be on seeking ways in which we can deliver this service more efficiently and effectively. We will continue to invest prudently, aligning resources to risk and ensuring the Service remains both affordable and fit for the future.

During 2025-26, our key objectives were to:

• Implement a new mobilising system, in collaboration with Joint Fire Control and Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service.
• Review our specialist rescue delivery model.
• Review our standard fire appliance specification.
• Review the flexi-duty system to maximise its effectiveness.
• Take receipt of new ‘clean cab’ fire appliances and a new command support unit.
• Attend all incidents within 8 minutes, on average, from mobilisation of first appliance.

During 2025/26:

• We attended 12,259 incidents, an increase of 12.3% compared to 2024/25. This increase was largely attributed to the Spring and Summer heatwaves.
• We responded to incidents in an average time of 8 minutes and 7 seconds. While this was 7 seconds above our target, increased demand required crews to attend incidents further from their typical response areas.
• Fires accounted for 3,683 of our incidents-an increase of 29.3% on 2024/25.
• We attended 1,667 incidents which involved rescues and humanitarian assistance from either buildings, vehicles, water, confined spaces or height. This was an increase of 16.9% on 2024/25.
• Our crews attended 666 road traffic collisions-an increase of 6% on 2024/25.

Our communities across the county continued to be served by 30 fire engines and a range of specialist vehicles operating from 24 fire stations.

When a call for help is received, we immediately mobilise the nearest appropriate vehicles, equipment and crews to ensure the most effective response to the type and scale of incident.

Our fire stations are staffed through a combination of wholetime and on-call crews:

• Eight stations are staffed by wholetime crews.
• Four stations operate with a combination of wholetime and on-call crews.
• Twelve stations are staffed by on-call crews.

Replacement mobilising system

Work has continued throughout 2025/26 with Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service and Joint Fire Control to develop a new mobilising system. This is a multiyear project, with our new system planned to go live in late 2026.

To enable focused procurement, bespoke services and attract a broader range of suppliers, the project was separated into individual elements, including communication and control system, station end equipment, on-call alerting, network provision and mobile data terminal hardware and software.

During 2025/26, all contracts were awarded and the project moved from development into implementation.

New station equipment was successfully installed, improving system resilience and upgrading hardware and software. A new on-call alerting system was also introduced, providing enhanced functionality and more robust communications.

We continue to work closely with our current provider to ensure a smooth transition and uninterrupted service to our communities.

Specialist Rescue Review

During 2025/26, we completed a review of our specialist rescue capabilities to ensure they remain effective in responding to current and future risks. The review considered a range of specialist rescue functions, including heavy rescue, large animal rescue, rope rescue, water and flood rescue, and structural access.

The review involved extensive research and engagement with stakeholders to identify opportunities for improvement. As a result, during 2026/27 we will introduce a revised model that distributes specialist rescue capabilities more widely across our fire stations, improving resilience and providing crews with more time to develop and maintain specialist skills.

To support these changes, significant investment will be made during 2026/27 in new equipment, training facilities and training programmes.

Standard fire appliance specification

During 2025/26, we undertook a review of our standard fire appliance specification. The review examined whether our current approach of using a standard fire appliance across the county remains the most effective and efficient model. It also explored emerging technologies and innovations that could enhance our operational response in the future.

The findings of the review will help shape future investment decisions and inform the next phase of fire appliance procurement in 2026/27.

Flexi-duty system review

During 2025/26, we completed a review of the duty system used by our operational officers. The review focused on updating existing arrangements to ensure they continue to provide an effective and efficient service.

The revised agreement is expected to increase operational officer capacity by around 1,400 hours each year, providing greater flexibility and resilience to support the delivery of our services across the county.

Heavy fleet replacement programme

During 2025/26, our new fleet of 17 fire appliances continued to arrive into the Service. These vehicles have been designed with a ‘clean cab’ concept, helping to protect firefighters from potentially harmful contaminants following operational incidents. Following equipment installation, six appliances are now in service, with the remainder expected to become operational during 2026.

Development of our new stateof- the-art Command Support Unit (CSU) is on-going, with the vehicle expected to enter service during 2026. It will be one of the most advanced of its kind in the country, further enhancing our command and control capabilities at incidents.

In 2026, we will also take delivery of a new Aerial Ladder Platform (ALP). With an increased reach of 45 metres, the new vehicle will provide greater operational capability, enabling us to respond more effectively to a wide range of incidents.

Other highlights

Local and national resilience

We work closely with regional partners to maintain resilience and support an effective operational response across Nottinghamshire and beyond. Established mutual assistance arrangements with neighbouring fire and rescue services ensure that additional resources, capacity and specialist capabilities are available during periods of increased demand or major incidents.

To support safe and effective multi-agency working, we apply the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP). These nationally recognised principles provide a structured framework for joint working, helping emergency services and partner organisations to communicate effectively, develop a shared understanding of incidents and make coordinated decisions when responding together.

For larger or more complex incidents, a multi-agency response may be required. As an active member of the Nottinghamshire Local Resilience Forum (LRF), we work in partnership to share information, skills and expertise, and to develop, maintain and exercise the Community Risk Register. This ensures that all Category 1 and 2 responders are prepared to respond effectively to identified risks.

The LRF Team, jointly hosted with Nottinghamshire Police, is now fully embedded, providing the secretariat function for the LRF. The team is responsible for delivering the LRF work programme, supporting governance arrangements and strengthening multi-agency preparedness and coordination. In addition, the team provides a 24/7 on-call capability, enabling the timely establishment of Tactical Coordinating Groups (TCGs) and Strategic Coordinating Groups (SCGs) in response to requests from partner agencies.

Through the National Resilience Capabilities Programme (NRCP), we contribute to the national framework for responding to major and complex incidents. This ensures that we can provide specialist capabilities in support of local, regional and national emergencies and receive support when required.

Training and Competence

Our firefighters are trained to deal with many different types of incidents. This requires a high standard of training, which is delivered through:

• Practical and face-to-face training at our Training Centre.
• Station-based training.
• Training exercises based on a variety of scenarios.
• E-learning through a range of digital training packages.

During 2025/26, we delivered 945 training courses, attended by 4,483 delegates across a portfolio of 197 different courses.

A total of 52,613 e-learning packages were completed by staff during the year.

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

In 2025/26, we conducted:

• 32 practical exercises and 73 Tactical Decision Exercises (TDEs), testing our capability across a range of emergency scenarios, including high-rise buildings, major road traffic collisions, water rescues, terrorist attacks and hazardous material releases.
• 4 specialist training events aimed specifically at testing our ability to work alongside other emergency services, ensuring that we can respond effectively and resolve incidents together.

Productivity

The performance of response crews in delivering our wider services continued to improve in 2025/26. During the year, response crews delivered:

• 13,255 Safe and Well Visits (a 5.3% increase on 2024/25), enabling the Service to exceed its target of 16,000 visits.
• 1,743 Business Safety Checks (a 12.6% increase on 2024/25), surpassing the target of 1,650 checks.
• 151 Community Befriending Scheme activities, equating to nearly 400 hours spent engaging with community groups.

In addition, response crews supported more than 300 community safety education events, maintained operational competence through participation in a comprehensive training and exercise programme, tested over 750 fire hydrants, and ensured that all 600 Site Specific Risk Information documents remained 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 new firefighters.

With the assistance of our Oncall Support Team throughout 2025/26, on-call appliance availability averaged 83.3%, making us one of the bestperforming fire and rescue services in the country for on-call availability.

Operational Equipment

During 2025/26, we introduced new operational equipment to assist our firefighters at incidents. This included:

• Additional wildfire equipment to support the vehicle and pumping capability introduced in 2024/25.
• Four additional flood rescue inflatable sleds, to be strategically located around the county.
• Ring and object removal electric tools for all wholetime stations.
• Water testing kits for our Specialist Water Rescue stations to support safer training.
• Increased provision of bodyworn cameras to enhance safety, transparency and organisational learning.

In addition, we have undertaken a significant research project to replace our medium rescue road traffic collision equipment. This will result in new equipment becoming operational during 2026/27.