Agenda item
Brent Fire Services - update
Members will receive a presentation by the Brent Fire Borough Commander providing an update on the London Fire Brigade consultation and a general performance overview.
Minutes:
Terry Harrington (Borough Commander, Brent London Fire Brigade) gave a presentation on Brent Fire Services and advised that an initial efficiency savings forecast target of £65m was now more likely to be around £50m. Options for changes to the Fire Services in London were presently at consultation stage, with the ‘101-151’ option being the preferred option. Terry Harrington advised that the proposals included the closure of 12 fire stations and removal of 18 fire appliances across London, of which four fire appliances would be redeployed elsewhere. Members heard that the London Fire Brigade’s (LFB) budget was not set on a borough by borough basis and that service configuration was optimised for prompt mobilisation and responses to fire incidences across London. Terry Harrington drew Members’ attention to the present Brent Fire Services resources as set out in the presentation and it was noted that there no plans in the current proposals to remove any fire appliances or close any stations in the borough. Wembley fire station had also been identified as a station of particular strategic importance.
Terry Harrington informed members that the LFB’s standards included first appliance to be at the scene of an emergency within six minutes, and a second appliance to be there within eight minutes. Brent’ performance recorded 67.7% for first appliance arriving within six minutes and 77.6% for the second appliance arriving in eight minutes. In terms of average time attendance times in Brent, the first appliance average was 5 minutes, 41 seconds and the second appliance was 6 minutes, 38 seconds. This compared with the LBF average of 5 minutes, 29 seconds and 7 minutes and 6 seconds respectively. Terry Harrington referred to the likely impact of the proposals in response times for first appliances arriving at a fire scene for each ward, with most of them forecast to have a response ranging from 1 to 24 seconds faster. He explained that although there were no proposed changes to fire services in Brent, changes in neighbouring boroughs were forecast to result in the time differences predicted for a number of Brent wards. Members noted that the forecast was drawn up through a computer programme model.
Terry Harrington also outlined a number of community fire safety initiatives, these being:-
· Setting up of Adult Safeguarding Board, with a High Risk Panel sitting beneath this
· Rough sleeping – setting up of a Strategy Group focusing on rough sleeping and also on accommodation not originally built for residential purposes, with work also taking place with relevant partner agencies
· Visual audits of buildings such as derelict buildings
· Sprinkler initiative for residential properties and working with organisations such as Brent Housing Partnership (BHP)
· Youth engagements – working with schools, junior citizens and continuation of the London Intervention Fire Education (LIFE) scheme
Members then discussed the presentation and an enquiry was made on whether there would be any changes to the number of staff and whether this would affect Brent Fire Services. Although the community fire safety initiatives were welcomed, it was asked whether there were a sufficient number of skilled staff to undertake these in view of the financial pressures faced by LFB. In terms of reduction of fire risks, members asked whether evidence of this could be provided. A member sought further information in respect of how the predicted changes in response times per ward had been calculated. The sprinkler initiative was also welcomed as it was proven to be effective in minimising damage to neighbourhoods when fires did occur. Confirmation was sought as to when the LBF budget would be finalised and further information was sought as to the options put to consultation. Targets for the previous year and for the next period were also requested, as well as comparisons with London boroughs with similar profiles. Further details were also sought concerning actions being taken to reduce areas identified as presenting a high fire risk.
In reply to the issues raised by committee, Terry Harrington advised there would be a scaling down of staff numbers across London, however all the fire teams in Brent would remain in place, although there may be a loss of a small number of posts. Around 500 posts over the whole of LBF would be cut by March 2015, however Terry Harrington added that a large proportion of these posts could be achieved through natural wastage as a number of staff were approaching 33 years or more service. Members noted that Brent Fire Services consisted of the Borough Commander, three station managers and four watch managers. At Wembley Fire Station, there are four watches consisting of 22 staff, making 88 in total, whilst Willesden Fire Station had four watches of 12 staff each, totalling 48 and Park Royal Fire Station four watches of 8 staff each, totalling 32. In addition, there were 12 staff members for the centrally located LIFE team and five staff in the Fire Safety Team. The committee heard that there would be some losses in terms of support resources. Terry Harrington acknowledged that the community initiative proposals were ambitious, however he felt that there were sufficiently skilled staff and efforts would be made to ensure they were allocated to an appropriate strand depending on their abilities and level of authority. The Schools Team was a centrally dedicated resource that focused on schools identified as high risk, whilst watch managers were also tasked specific projects.
Terry Harrington advised that he could provide a future report to the committee detailing on a wide range of types of fires and a breakdown of figures. Flooding was the only type of incident where there was an increased risk, whilst action was still being taken to identify the most vulnerable in terms of fire risk and a referral system had been set up which had referred three people in the previous week. The sprinkler initiative played an important role in protecting people and preventing damage to property and required serious consideration about where was appropriate to locate sprinkler systems, whilst a presentation on sprinklers could be provided to members if they so wished. With regard to ward data, Terry Harrington explained that the data had been obtained from the last two years in response to all calls. Members heard that P1 postcodes and P1 individuals indicated high risk, and a profiling of such factors was taking place to gain further information. In areas such as estates, the LBF liaised with partner agencies and meetings took place with the Brent Police Borough Commander to discuss issues and ‘estate days’ took place jointly with the police. A database also existed of people who the LBF had made visits to, whilst MASH was being utilised to help identify ‘hard to reach or hard to know’ individuals. Other initiatives included education, ‘shock tactics’ and fitting smoke alarms. Terry Harrington advised that there were also a number of challenges in getting the right message across effectively to the public, such as Brent’s transient population and the number of other languages spoken in the borough, which made the need to undertake a joint stakeholder, holistic approach even more important.
Turning to the budget, Terry Harrington advised that the budget proposals had initially been put on hold following a representation from the Mayor of London. The consultation was due to end on 18 July 2013 and public meetings were being held in all London boroughs, including a joint public meeting involving Brent and Harrow. The feedback from the consultation would then be collated and a review of the concerns raised would take place before implementation of the final proposals that would happen sometime in August 2013. It was agreed that Tony Harrington would provide information on consultation review and final proposals to members through Kisi Smith-Charlemagne (Policy and Performance Officer, Strategy, Partnerships and Improvement).