Agenda item

(Copy attached.)

         LSO David Farries introduced himself and thanked the Board for providing him with the response which was made to the consultation on the new Fire & Rescue framework for Scotland.     The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service had now produced their draft Strategic Plan for 2016-2019 which developed the expectations set out in the Scottish Government Framework.   A 10 week online consultation period began on 31 May 2016.   The Strategic plan acted as a bridge between the framework and their Scottish Borders Local Plan. He valued the view of the Board on its concerns about the need to balance national priorities with the needs of local communities which was a key focus of the Board’s feedback and was important to the Fire and Rescue Service team within the Scottish Borders.    The 2016-2019 Strategic plan gave the Fire and Rescue Service the space to be ambitious whilst looking differently at their service delivery.  The Board would be aware of service transformation agenda and the Fire and Rescue Service was already seeing the benefits of the ways that their resources could be used to benefit local communities in innovative ways.    The Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest trial was ongoing with an enhanced response in Hawick, Lauder and Coldstream.  The Service was currently in the final preparation stages of the Living Safely in the Home initiative which would initially run in the Cheviot area, this project harnessed their vast experience in prevention and allowed them to assist in reducing unintended harm to vulnerable people.   It would of course be wrong for the Service to lose focus on what was considered their ‘traditional’ core responsibilities and with that in mind the Service continued to explore ways of improving their operational response.    Training remained the key component in ensuring firefighters were kept competent and safe.   The Service had recently completed the training of their second swift water rescue team in the Borders at Hawick; this team would be able to work alongside colleagues from Gala at water rescue incidents and in response to the type of large scale flooding incidents seen in recent years throughout the region.   LSO Farries had recently secured funding to renovate the old smoke house facility also at Hawick Fire Station into a simulated domestic dwelling which would be used for breathing apparatus and search and rescue training. This venue would benefit crews from across the borders.    A further commitment to improving their operational response came in the form of a major investment in brand new state of the art Hydraulic Rescue Equipment for the area. The Service had managed to bring half of the 10 sets of equipment available in the East of Scotland to the Scottish Borders and stations across the area had been selected to provide a good coverage.    LSO Farries hoped that Board members would be able to attend the events which they had been invited to in Duns, Selkirk, Gala, Kelso and Peebles over the remainder of the year. The Service had put together a programme which afforded Members the opportunity to visit Retained stations, speak to crews on the ground and observe training exercises.

4.5    There had been circulated copies of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Performance Report covering the period 1 April to 31 March 2016.  In summarising the report, Group Manager A. Girrity advised that with regard to Priority 1: Reduction of Dwelling Fires, the SFRS had attended 109 dwelling fires in comparison to 84 for the same Year to Date (YTD) reporting period last year, this represented a 30% increase.   Six of these fires had been started deliberately although none in the last quarter.  Cooking continued to be the most common cause of dwelling fires, over 50% started in single occupancy dwellings.  A quarter of these fires involved persons 65 years old or over.     Priority 2: Reduction in Fire Fatalities and Casualties, the report noted that there had been 18 fire related casualties in this reporting period, this was an increase of three compared to the same period last year.   Six of these casualties went to hospital with the SFRS administering oxygen to 12 casualties.  The YTD period had seen one fire fatality, there had been three non-fatal fire casualties this quarter all suffering from slight smoke inhalation.    There had been no fire fatalities this quarter.    Priority 3: Reduction of Deliberate Fire Setting indicated that there had been 100 deliberate fires in this YTD reporting period, an increase of 11 in comparison to the same reporting period last year. Wood, scrubland, refuse and straw bales accounted for the majority of these incidents.   The decrease in the last quarter was consistent with the months of autumn and winter.   Priority 4: Reduction in Road Traffic Collisions (RTCs) indicated that the SFRS attended 107 RTCs, compared to 92 for the same reporting period last year.   Further analysis showed that 31% of these casualties occurred in the third quarter.  This was an increase of one compared to the same period last year.   There had been 74 RTC related casualties in this YTD period with six of these being fatalities.   The most recent fatalities involved two adult females at separate incidents in February.  The Service used Hydraulic Rescue Equipment on 32 occasions during this YTD to extricate casualties.   Priority 5 related to the Reduction of Unwanted Fire Alarm Signals and it was noted that there had been 791 Unwanted Fire Alarm Signals during this quarter, representing a decrease of 114 incidents compared to the same period last year.   Members noted a report by Group Manager S. Gourlay on unwanted fire alarm signals.   Group Manager S. Gourlay updated Members on home fire safety visits.  It was confirmed that the Fire and Rescue Service would be present at St Boswells Fair.

         DECISION

         NOTED.              

ADJOURNMENT

         The meeting adjourned at 11.30 a.m. and reconvened at 11.40 a.m.