Sir Ken Knight visits Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service

Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service hosted former Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser Sir Ken Knight on Monday 20 June, to discuss the Service’s progress on recommendations in his 2013 report Facing the Future.

In his Government-commissioned review, Sir Ken published his conclusions as to how English fire and rescue services could become more cost-effective and efficient in the future.

The report found that while incidents had reduced by 40 per cent in the last decade, the fire and rescue service could achieve greater cost savings by using different staffing models and by working more closely with neighbouring fire authorities and other emergency services.

As part of the review, Sir Ken visited Devon and Somerset and the merger of the two fire and rescue services was noted as an example for others to follow in the report, having saved £4.2 million between 2007 and 2012, as was the innovative work on wider community safety initiatives.

Chief Fire Officer Lee Howell said: “We invited Sir Ken back to Devon and Somerset to highlight the significant progress we have made locally since his national report was issued in 2013. This is part of our strategy to bring in an external perspective on our performance to reassure the public that the fire and rescue service in Devon and Somerset continues to improve year on year."

Cllr Mark Healey MBE, Chairman of the Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Authority, said: “We are very proud of our achievements and we are working on some innovative projects which will enable us to further maintain and improve public safety as well as becoming even more efficient and effective.”

During Sir Ken’s visit, Lee Howell took the opportunity to explain the work carried out in Devon and Somerset since the publication of the report and further initiatives currently underway.

Among the pioneering schemes discussed were the following:

• Specially-trained PCSOs in North Devon responding to incidents as on-call firefighters in remote locations where fire stations have lower availabilityOur firefighters now save more lives responding to medical emergencies than in fire incidents and the Service has 20 co-responding fire stations
• Community safety officers have been working with the health sector to reach the most at risk of experiencing a fire and voluntary groups to develop community resilience to flooding and severe weather incidents
• The Service has pioneered the use of different emergency response vehicles such as Light Rescue Pumps and is currently piloting Rapid Intervention Vehicles and associated new technology.

Sir Ken Knight, who served in the former Devon Fire & Rescue Service from 1985 and again in 1992, said: “I was delighted to return to Devon and Somerset three years after my review to see at first-hand the tremendous range of work that the fire and rescue service is undertaking.

“It is notable that firefighters in Devon and Somerset now save more lives from attending emergency health care support than from the traditional firefighting role. It is a credit to both and fire and rescue authority and firefighters who are serving the community in this way.”