"It is disappointing" - Inspection finds Hampshire Fire & Rescue need to improve responses to fire and resource allocation
Inspectors have highlighted a number of areas where Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue (HIWFRS) need to improve - including how it responds to emergencies.
The report by His Majesty’s Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services stated it was disappointed that the service had not made the progress it had expected. The inspector rated the service as ‘inadequate’ at getting the right people with the right skills, while its mobilisation system could cause “unnecessary delays”.
HIWFRS were were graded across 11 areas with it being found ‘good’ in two areas, ‘adequate’ in five areas, ‘requires improvement’ in three areas and ‘inadequate’ in one area.
The report was not all bad news with it being rated as ‘good’ at preventing fires and other risks, however it also found that it did not have enough on-call firefighters available and was not meeting its target response times.
His Majesty’s Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Roy Wilsher said: “I am satisfied with some aspects of the performance of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service in keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks, but there are areas in which the service needs to improve.
“The service has made some progress against some of the areas for improvement we identified in our previous inspection. For example, it has put in place a more effective system for staff to use learning and debriefs to improve operational response and incident command.
“But it is disappointing to see that the service hasn’t made the progress we expected. For example, it still needs to make sure senior managers are visible and demonstrate service values through their behaviours. And it hasn’t implemented an effective system to ensure that all risk and safety-critical information has been read and understood by staff.
“I recognise that recruiting on-call firefighters can be difficult and the service is planning some significant changes to meet the financial challenges it faces. I will keep in close contact with the service to monitor these changes and its progress in addressing our concerns and associated recommendations.”
In response to the report, HIWFRS chief fire officer, Neil Odin said he was “proud” of the hard work his staff do everyday and the service is already addressing issues that have been flagged.
He said: “We are already making progress in the areas for improvement. One of the areas flagged by the inspectors relates to a nightly software update that impacts our mobilisation system. I would like to reassure our communities that this is an administrative issue and does not affect our operational capabilities or response to incidents, a manual fix is in place and has proven to safeguard against any potential impact to mobilisation.
“Another area we are working on is workforce planning and as recommended we are pulling together the work we do across service departments into a coherent service-wide plan to bring together current and future workforce and skills requirements in one place.
“Likewise, recruitment and availability of on-call firefighters continues to be a challenge nationally, and we are taking actions to address that such as the introduction of more flexible contracts and new recruitment activity, and we currently have the highest on-call availability across the South-East of England.
“The issue of response times and availability of appliances is raised within the report and is an area we continually monitor and review. We will always seek to respond to emergencies as quickly and as effectively as we can and we ensure our available resources are in the best places to maintain cover for the whole service area.”
Neil Odin also stated he was “pleased” to see that the financial challenges were acknowledged in the inspection report.
The Fire Brigade’s Union has called the report “damning” and flagging that the service is in “desperate needs of investment” rather than cuts.
Jamie Kelly, Fire Brigades Union brigade secretary for Hampshire and Isle of Wight, said: “The damning conclusion that the service ‘requires improvement’ at responding to fires and emergencies is the result of over fourteen years of cuts to firefighter posts.
“The public deserve a service that can send firefighters out quickly to incidents. Yet, right now, as firefighters from across the region tackle the major incident in Dorset, we have only 23 of 80 fire engines available due to lack of crews.
“Slashing the number of firefighters instead of taking action and calling for government investment will only deepen the crisis laid out in the report.”
The full report by His Majesty’s Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services can be found here.