FIREFIGHTERS in East Hampshire have seen a dramatic fall in the number of "crank" calls in a year. Just four time wasters called 999 between 2004/05 compared to 14 the previous year. The encouraging trend has been repeated across Hampshire with 584 calls in 2005, compared to 664 the previous year and 771 the year before that. At the same time, the number of property and grass fires has also reduced in both East Hampshire and the county as a whole. Kevin Butcher, head of operational delivery at Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, said the welcome trend could be attributed to a major change in the way the service operates. "We have certainly in the past three years shifted our emphasis from purely responding to prevention and protection. What that means is we are being proactive in a number of ways to reduce fires. The obvious way is through education. We do that through a very comprehensive schools education programme which is part of the national curriculum," he said. "There are a number of other things that we are doing that in the past would not have been part of the fire service's role like environmental audits. We do this in partnership with local authorities. "We hazard spot for things that could be particular targets for arsonists like derelict buildings and cars. We will work with the authorities to get the derelict building boarded up and secured and to get the derelict car removed. All of this removes and reduces the risk of a fire starting and it does have an impact on the number of fires that we attend. "The other thing that we do is offer free home fire safety visits where we will, if necessary, provide 10-year smoke detectors free of charge. The visits are not just to make sure that they have a smoke detector but also to hazard spot things that could cause a fire in the home and advise people to change their ways." Over the last three years, the number of home fire safety visits undertaken by fire service staff has massively increased. A total of 2,847 homes were checked during 2003/04, 7,916 were checked the following year and latest figures show that 9,752 were checked during 2005/06. Over the next three years, the service has pledged to carry out another 70,000 home fire safety visits, 20,000 during 2006/07 and 25,000 in both 2007/08 and 2008/09. In its three year plan "Making Hampshire Safer", the service has set out its vision for 2010. The report, released last week, said: "Our vision is to make Hampshire safer. Our primary aim is to protect people, property, the environment and our heritage by preventing fires and other emergencies, responding to environmental emergencies, terrorist attacks and major flooding incidents, as well as by responding to fires as we always have done. "In 2010, we will be preventing emergencies in Hampshire by proactively targeting and educating people most at risk from fires and accidents, including the elderly and school children in Key Stage 1, 2 and 3, engaging young people in activities to reduce deliberate fire setting and anti-social behaviour. "And working in partnership with local authorities and other agencies to reduce deaths and injuries from road and water related incidents. "We will have fitted every home in Hampshire with a smoke detector through our home fire safety visit programme and will be working with local authorities, housing associations and planners to fit domestic sprinklers as a fire protection alternative." The service has set itself five key targets: l to reduce fire deaths and injuries in the home by 20 per cent by 2010 l to reduce the number of fires in buildings by three per cent by the end of 2006 l to reduce fires started deliberately by 10 per cent by 2010 l to divert two per cent of our current resources to prevention activities by 2008 l to be in the top 20 per cent of high performing fire and rescue services in the country
