This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Chief Inspector of Fire Services annual report
21/01/2004
In his final
report as HM Chief Inspector, Dennis Davies highlights
the "concerning" fact that 59 fires killed 72 people in
their homes last year but smoke alarms were only fitted in
40 of those homes and then only 21 were known to have
operated properly.
Eighty-four people in Scotland died as a result of fires
during 2002-03, according to the report.
The report also reveals that in 2002-03 the fire service
in Scotland:
• Responded to 109712 emergency calls - a decrease of
10 per cent from 2001-02
• Attended 18448 fires - a decrease of 7 per cent
• Attended 34625 secondary fires - a decrease of 2 per
cent
• Attended 2441 chimney fires - a decrease of 11 per
cent
• Responded to 51521 false alarm calls - a decrease of 4
per cent
• Attended 10144 special service calls - a decrease of 1
per cent
HM Chief Inspector of Fire Services Dennis Davis
said:
"I am saddened to report that there was no reduction in
the number of deaths from fires last year and I remain
concerned that more of these lives could have been saved
had a smoke alarm been fitted or maintained in working
order.
"Actual fire activity levels continue to reduce but the
number of unwarranted fire signals such as malicious calls
and apparatus faults continues to be a concern. The
proportion of activity related to these calls is 31 per
cent of the total calls received and their ongoing
reduction will remain a key priority for all brigades.
"Community Fire Safety (CFS) is now at the core of fire
service work and this is fully endorsed and emphasised in
the proposals made in the Scottish Executive policy
document The Scottish Fire Service of the Future. All 8
brigades in Scotland have established CFS programmes aimed
at educating local communities about the simple precautions
that they can take and which might save their lives. An
area of increasing activity for brigades has been their
involvement in Community Safety Partnerships, which
provides a structure within which all Scottish local
authorities and police forces participate in multi-agency
activity designed to improve safety within their
communities.
"Brigades have begun to develop Integrated Risk
Management (IRM) plans. IRM is the term used to describe
the process of bringing together the strands of operational
response (intervention) and fire safety practice
(prevention) together with the safety contributions of
external partners.
"Integrated Personal Development System (IPDS) also
began to be implemented across Scotland during 2002-03.
This move will ensure that there is a vocational approach
to training and development programmes better enabling
firefighters to meet the required competencies demanded by
the job.
"The past year has also seen considerable efforts made
to improve the service's capacity to meet the threat of
terrorism. The events of 11 September 2001 and the
proposed role of the fire service in meeting these threats
has for example put a new focus on the requirement for
joint working between fire brigades and other emergency
services. A national radio system is therefore to be
implemented that will enhance the capability of the fire
service to do this."
In 2002-03, the strength of Scottish Fire Brigades was
4506 wholetime, 2507 retained, 218 control staff, 1175
volunteer staff and 845 support staff.
Key indicators are:
• Deaths at 84 this year are the same as last year
• Operational activity was 10 per cent lower than
last year a feature arising in part from the industrial
dispute
• Whilst fulltime firefighter strengths remain at a
fairly constant level with a slight increase this year,
part time numbers have again fallen
• 31 per cent of all calls result from malicious acts
or faults on automatic fire detection systems
• Fire safety activity increased slightly in the
year