Priority one

There have been key changes in the Fire Safety Regulations and through our regulatory and advisory role, we have an obligation to safeguard the “built environment” in our communities.

The Fire Safety Act 2021 has given Local Fire and Rescue Services more authority under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 to enforce compliance with external wall systems, balconies and individual flat entrance doors. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 has placed mandatory fire safety duties on the ‘responsible person’ in multi-occupied residential buildings. We have responded to these changes by up-skilling our Fire Safety Officers, revising our training and fire safety audit process. 

For more information on the changes see fire safety law has changed.

Our focus is to prevent fires, road traffic collisions and other emergencies by providing targeted information and interventions to reduce susceptibility and foster safer communities.

We achieve this through cooperative relationships, collaborating with a wide range of individuals, groups and specialist support to mentor and educate our communities. We use a targeted, evidence-based approach to
implementing preventative programmes.

Following a thorough analysis and evaluation of our 2024 safety campaign calendar and using a data-led approach, the Community Risk team and Communications and Engagement team have created a new safety calendar for 2025.

The calendar sets out key campaigns, dates, and events. Using the Government Communication Service OASIS framework, which you can read more about on the Civil Service website, in-depth plans for each of our eight focused campaigns have been developed. Each campaign will carry an element of social media promotion and face-to-face engagement with those in our communities who are most at risk.

We continue to align the timings of our campaigns with the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) campaign calendar, which is available to read on the NFCC website.

We successfully piloted our ‘Phoenix’ programme, which is run in partnership with senior schools and referral agencies, enabling young people to develop lifesaving skills and develop confidence for those most vulnerable to serious violence, aiming for a lasting, positive impact. We have secured grant funding to extend the Pheonix programme into Somerset. The pilot scheme was featured in the online BBC news article Students in Devon to take part in firefighter training.

Our road safety team is dedicated to raising awareness about the hazards present on our roads and promoting safe practices for their use. We continue to implement focused initiatives and community engagement events in partnership with our road safety collaborators.

Recognising the importance of a Safe Systems approach to the challenge of reducing the number of people involved in serious and fatal road traffic collisions, we continue to strengthen our partnership work nationally and regionally. Regionally, we work collaboratively with Vision Zero South West, Somerset Council, neighbouring fire and rescue services, local authorities, and other emergency services. Nationally, we are the Young Driver thematic lead for the NFCC and the regional lead for NFCC road safety.

We are also involved in other national groups, for example, the National Young Riders Forum, a group of road safety professionals, bringing together their expertise to reduce young motorcyclist collisions and casualties.
 

This work is running concurrently with existing campaigns such as Learn2Live and Biker Down.

As a result of our innovative national work, we have been invited to speak at national conferences and sit on steering groups where we share our experience and expertise about how to reach our most at-risk road users. We deliver multiple best practice designed and evaluated interventions across the Service area to those most at risk on our roads.

The Community Safety team continues to work with partners and charities to provide education, support campaigns, and invest in activities to prevent accidental drowning and promote water safety. You can read more information about this on our water safety webpage.

We are continuing to promote our ‘Wildfire Warrior’ campaign, raising awareness about the hazards of wildfires and the impact it has on the environment is crucial. For more information on how to reduce the risk of wildfires, safety advice, or how to become a ‘Wildfire Warrior’ within your community visit our Wildfire Warriors webpage.

Though we have seen a reduction in the number of fires we attend, there is a significant increase in the number of automatic fire alarms we are responding to. We have been working with partners to reduce the number of automatic fire alarms and have revised the Unwanted Fire Signals policy. We have consulted with the community presenting several options of how we can change our response to automatic fire alarms to ensure firefighters are available to respond to genuine emergencies. Details of the consultation outcome will be known by the beginning of June and published on our website.

September 2024, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report was published. We are reviewing the recommendations to ensure that any learning outcomes from the inquiry are fully addressed. We are continuing to work towards making sure staff are aligned with the NFCC Competence Framework for Fire Safety Regulators. This involves staff being suitably qualified and gaining experience involving complex premises. We currently have several staff working towards joining the Engineering Council and Institute of Fire Engineers as part of the NFCC/ IFE Contextualised Auditors Register scheme.

Fire safety audits continue to take place in higher-risk buildings, which continue to feature on our Risk-Based Inspection Programme (RBIP). The programme leverages data and intelligence to allocate our resources to the facilities that pose the highest risk. Our 2025-2028 RBIP will incorporate a proportionate number of buildings over 11 metres, which is in alignment with Government initiatives. For further information regarding fire safety inspections, you can visit our fire safety inspections webpage.