Fire service consulting over response times
Proposals seek to change how reaction to emergencies is measured
THE Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service this week launched a public consultation over proposals to change how emergency response times are measured – including the time it takes for a fire engine to arrive at the scene.
The 10-week consultation, which was put in motion on Monday, is seeking views on four proposals.
The first concerns the time taken to respond to an incident.
The fire service currently measures a time span from when the crew is mobilised, to the time the fire engine arrives on the scene.
The new proposal is to instead measure the time that has elapsed from when the call is received by the control operator, to the time the fire engine arrives on the scene.
Secondly, the type of incident recorded goes under the spotlight.
Currently attendance times to domestic house fires and road accidents are included in the statistics.
The proposal is to extend this to all emergency incidents, including commercial building fires, water rescues, animal rescues and outdoor fires.
The third proposal is to change the yardstick by which response times are measured.
This is currently set at 10 minutes for the first fire engine to arrive at house fires and 12 minutes for the second one. The service also aims to arrive at a road accident where people are trapped in 11 minutes.
Under the new proposals, only the time it takes for the first fire engine to arrive at the scene would be recorded for official statistics, with the arrival time of any second fire engine kept for internal use by the fire service.
The final proposal is that response standards are published as a target percentage. For example: “We will target our operational resp-onse activities to arrive at incidents within ‘X’ minutes on ‘Y’ per cent of occasions.”
Group manager Jim Powell, said the fire service was keen for as many people as possible to take part in the consultation, and “to help shape the future of their fire and rescue service”.
To take part in the consultation, which ends on July 25, visitwww.rbfrs.co.uk, email irmp@rbfrs.co.uk, telephone (0118) 938 4331 (automated line), or write to RBFRS, Newsham Court, Pincents Kiln, Calcot, Reading RG31 7SD.
