West Sussex County Council provides about 80% of our local government services, which includes our Fire and Rescue Service. Every year, fire services are legally required to publish an annual report called the Statement of Assurance. A few weeks ago, this report for our own fire service was published. It can be easily viewed on the County Council’s website.
This document provides the fire authority with confidence that the fire and rescue service is meeting its strategic objectives. I'm very pleased to say this report clearly evidences the great progress that West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service is making to deliver on the commitments they made in their Community Risk Management Plan, which is the current four-year plan for the service.
It’s great to report that the performance indicators for the West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service are exceptionally strong, with out of the 30 recorded measures, 26 were Green (on target), two were Amber and two were Red. A great team effort, our fire service has performed brilliantly over the last year, and at the political level, the County Council’s Conservative administration has strongly invested in the service and provided the support that has helped our fire service to thrive.
This last financial year gave the service its first 12-months working of its new automatic fire alarm policy. The policy change resulted in a 66% reduction in unwanted fire signals, allowing fire crews to be more effective with their time, by undertaking community-based risk reduction activities and essential training.
The fire service has exceeded its target of delivering 5,000 Safe and Well Visits, with a total of 5,335 being completed. Excellent prevention activity has been making a positive impact. Injuries from fire in West Sussex are very low and it being almost two years since there has been a tragedy of having a death from fire in the whole of West Sussex.
This coming Saturday morning 10 August, Crawley Fire Station is hosting its annual open day from 10.30am, opening for SEN families from 9.30am. Everyone is welcome to come and the crews will be delighted to see you.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
7th August 2024
