Between April 1 and October 31, Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) attended a staggering 869 fires across the county.
A performance update was presented to Cumbria’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Peter McCall, at his CFRS Public Accountability Conference held on December 7.
In that six-month duration, 75 per cent of primary property fire emergencies were responded to within 10 minutes and 87 per cent of all other emergencies within 15 minutes.
Accidental residential fires made up 88 of the incidents, and June marked a spike in the number of fires, with 220 attended.
Also in June, anti-social behaviour involving fire-setting became a regular occurrence amongst the youth in Barrow.
To address this, CFRS coordinated with police and delivered lectures in schools and specifically addressed known offenders to curb the activity.
The number of fires decreased to 103 countywide the following month, a drastic 53.2 per cent decrease from June.
However, the danger is not confined to fires alone.
Between April 1 and October 31, CFRS attended 125 Road Traffic Collisions (RTC) across the county.
Tragically, there were four fatalities.
The number of RTCs peaked in August with fire crews attending 27 incidents, as summer traffic intensified on Cumbria’s roads.
Working towards prevention, CFRS outdid their counterparts across the nation, by conducting over 5,000 Home Safety Visits during the year.
This was three times the national average when compared to other Fire Services in the country.
This procedure offers residents a fire safety assessment to pinpoint potential risks and advice on safeguarding their homes against fire.
Additionally, CFRS conducted 731 protection audits on businesses from April 1 to October 31 to ensure appropriate standards are met to reduce fire risks and protect employees and customers.
Since September, CFRS completed 352 community engagement events to provide prevention advice and educate the public.
These engagements included attending 20 community events, providing 82 fire safety sessions, 59 CPR sessions, and 29 road safety sessions, reaching an impressive audience reach of 35,000 both online and offline.
During the conference, Chief Fire Officer Rick Ogden also provided an update on the internal work being done to address concerns raised by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS).
Cumbria’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Peter McCall, said: “The end of year performance reports at PAC gives me the opportunity to scrutinise CFRS and hold the Service to account on their performance on behalf of the public.
“It has been eight months since I have taken on governance responsibility for Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service, and I have been impressed by the dedication and determination of all Firefighters and staff to deliver an outstanding and ever improving service to the public."
Chief Fire Officer, Rick Ogden, was equally satisfied with the performance.
Mr Ogden said: "The progress demonstrated in response to the findings of the HMICFRS report, coupled with the excellent performance figures, demonstrate that the service is keeping the people of Cumbria safe.
“For a service that covers a large rural area and the challenges that brings, our availability figures for our on-call crews and appliances puts us in a strong position nationally and this is something in which we take great pride."
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