Scottish Borders Council

Agenda item

Progress Reports/Updates on Service Matters - Scottish Fire & Rescue Service

 

Performance report (Copy attached)

Protection & Protection Q3 report (Copy attached)

Community Fire and Rescue Plan 2018 (Copy attached)

Service Transformation, Stakeholder Briefing Document (Copy attached)

UFAS Cause Report (Copy attached).

 

LSO Stephen Gourlay

 

 

 

Minutes:

Local Senior Officer (LSO) Gourlay referred to the Community Fire and Rescue Plan for Scottish Borders 2018, which had been circulated with the Agenda.  He explained that the Plan had been through a consultation process and amendments had been made to reflect changes in the Local Community Plan.  The Chairman congratulated the Fire Service on the Plan which he fully endorsed and advised that it would be presented to Council on 1 March 2018.

           

5.2       In response to questions regarding the out-of-hours cardiac arrest scheme, LSO Gourlay advised that it was the intention to roll out the pilot scheme across the whole of Scotland.  However, owing to union negotiations this was not possible at the moment.  With reference to the tragic fatal fire in Hawick on 4 January, he stated that there would be a multi-agency discussion to consider the circumstances around the fire.

 

5.3       The Scottish Fire & Rescue Service  (SFRS) Transformation Proposal had also been circulated with the Agenda.  LSO Gourlay explained that since the last meeting they had received a mandate from Scottish Government with extra funding, in addition to their existing budget, to support the transformation proposals.  He further advised that the Fire Service was investing £10m on a dedicated training and health & wellbeing facility in the east of Scotland which was welcomed.   In response to questions, LSO Gourlay advised that there were no high rise flats with cladding in the Borders. He further advised that since the Cameron House fire a safety review had been undertaken on all large and medium sized hotels across Scotland.

 

5.4       Group Manager Girrity then presented the SFRS Local Plan Performance Report for 1 April 2017 to 31 December 2017, copies of which had been circulated with the Agenda. In summary: 

 

5.5       Reduction of ‘Dwelling Fires’. The SFRS had attended 69 dwelling fires during the period, the same total as the previous year’s reporting period.  Cooking and cooking appliances continued to be the cause of over 50% of those fires. 

 

5.6       Reduction of ‘All Fire Casualties (fatal and non-fatal)’.  There were 13 fire related casualties during the reporting period, seven less than the same period last year. 

 

5.7       Reduction of ‘All deliberate fires, excluding dwellings’.  There were 136 deliberate fires in the year to date, an increase of 56 in comparison to the same period last year.  The increase was associated with a spate of fires which had occurred in the wooded area adjacent to Galashiels Academy. 

 

5.8       Reduction of ‘Special Service – RTCs’.  The SFRS attended 63 road traffic collisions, 13 less than the same period last year.  There were 42 related casualties including four fatalities.  The hydraulic rescue equipment was used on 24 occasions to extricate persons from trapped vehicles. 

 

5.9       Unwanted Fire Alarms Signals – There were 216 unwanted fire alarms signals during the period, which was a slight decrease from the previous year.  With reference to paragraph 5.10(b) of the minute of 10 November 2017, a report on ‘Unwanted Fire Alarm Signals’ had been circulated with the Agenda, which gave further details.

              

5.10     Group Manager Girrity then went on to discuss prevention and protection activities. Home Fire Safety Visits continued to be carried out across the Borders with 522 visits completed in quarter three of 2017-18.  SFRS also carried out a number of prevention activities with other agencies in terms of youth engagement and vulnerable adults.  He highlighted the Living Safely in the Home pilot project in Cheviot. The aim of the project was to reduce slips, trips, falls whilst assessing other vulnerabilities in the home. This pilot had been a success and planning was taking place to extend the project to other areas of the Borders.   The SFRS assisted deliver of the Drivewise programme, 150 school children (S4 – S6) had attended the October 2017 sessions and received Road Safety Education and driving experience. Drivewise had proved an excellent prevention activity and similar SFRS resources would be allocated to Drivewise 2018.  Group Manager Girrity went on to refer to future works streams and highlighted the Youth Engagement Programme which would be delivered to 10 youths from Galashiels Academy and also a Community Resilience Day at Peebles High School.    In response to questions, Group Manager Girrity advised that hotels’ sleeping risks were audited each year.  With regard to fire safety on farms, he explained that they were already involved with Young Farmers and also that previous engagement activities had included developing CPR skills.   With regard to partnership working, Mr Gourlay advised that they had a small community action team who worked extensively with a range of multi-agency partners.  To conclude, he advised that there were a number of local authorities about to engage in a pilot with the blue light service, and that negotiations to review national terms and conditions were critical in order that the SFRS could move forward with their transformation programme. 

 

5.11     The Chairman thanked Group Manager Girrity and LSO Gourlay for their report which had focused on SFRS’s delivery of a range of services.  He reiterated the Committee’s comments regarding the out-of-hour’s cardiac arrest pilot and hoped that negotiations were successful and that this project would resume as soon as possible.

 

            DECISION

            NOTED the report.

 

Supporting documents:

 

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