SURREY Fire and Rescue Service has been rated ‘indequate’ in the first independent inspection for 12 years, prompting renewed warnings by the Fire Brigade Union it is the ‘stark reality of austerity’.
The county’s service and also Hampshire fire and rescue were two of the 14 inspected by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) in the first of three tranches of reports to be issued over the next 12 months, as a result of ongoing inspections of the 45 fire and rescue services in England.
Inspectors judged that Hampshire fire and rescue service protects its residents well.
“Perhaps the report’s most troubling criticism is that the service doesn’t have a robust operational model and needs to ensure it has enough people and equipment available to respond to risk in line with its risk management plan.
“This concern chimes with issues raised directly with us by the FBU, and will worry residents of Surrey.
“I note that a response since the inspection has been to recruit 30 full time firefighters with another 16 to be recruited by the spring, which will give some comfort, but yet again residents are having to read that a vital service is not of the quality they have the right to expect.
“Cuts in service are having to be reversed because poor judgements were made and the firefighters themselves not listened to.”
Findings from an HMICFRS inspection carried out over the summer found ‘serious concerns’ about the performance of the service in keeping people safe.
In particular, a reliance on firefighters working overtime was putting crew members and the public at risk.
Inspectors concluded that the service was failing to make the best use of its resources and will return in July 2019 ‘to make sure the contents of the action plan have been addressed and the service provided to the public of Surrey has improved’.
The 14 fire and rescue services were assessed against how effective they are in keeping people safe, how efficient they are in doing that and how well they look after their people.
Surrey was rated ‘inadequate’ for efficiency and was rated as ‘requires improvement’ in the other two areas. Inspectors reported the service is sometimes too understaffed to have all of its fire engines available.
They were also concerned that removing overtime limits could have an impact on staff welfare, noting: ‘Staff are proud of their work but find the increasing workloads hard to bear.’
Responding to the findings, Steve Owen-Hughes, Surrey’s acting chief fire officer, said: “I’m determined, together with my new leadership team and all our staff, to continue the work we’ve already started to transform our fire service. The inspection was conducted in July and at no point has HM Inspectorate said to us that they feel the residents of Surrey are unsafe. We have an agreed plan in place to improve our service which has been agreed with them. We will always respond to emergencies but crucially we’re also improving the work we do to prevent incidents happening in the first place.”
Denise Turner-Stewart, Surrey County Council’s cabinet member for community safety, fire and resilience, added: “First and foremost, I can guarantee to our residents that we are committed to having a robust and effective fire service to keep our residents safe. We welcome and accept the findings of the report and had already begun to make changes before inspectors visited in July.
“Despite the financial pressures we’re under, we’re investing £2m over the next two years in our fire service to recruit more firefighters and improve our work to prevent incidents. We’ve already brought 30 extra full time firefighters into our hard-working team and will have 46 by the spring – a 10 per cent increase.”