Agenda item

Stuart Grosse.

Stuart Grosse (Group Commander Response South) gave a presentation to the Community Board outlining the work of the Fire and Rescue Service in the Community Board Area. The slides for the presentation were appended to the Minutes of the meeting. The following key points were made during his presentation:

·       There was uncertainty as to what the service will look like in a year’s time owing to anticipated funding cuts.

·       Buckingham wholetime station and Winslow on-call station were the nearest responders to incidents within the community board area. There were two junior officers and six crew within the Winslow station, which was a good number.

·       132 incidents were attended by the service in the community board area last year. These were mostly outdoor fires, field fires, or large commercial fires.

·       Regarding priorities, the service wanted to ensure that vulnerable groups including the over 80s had smoke detectors fitted, as well as reducing fires caused by fly tipping in the Winslow area. There was also a key effort to improve community engagement with local school clubs and community groups.

·       The service had faced particularly high pressure in July 2022 due to the record summer heat.

·       It was anticipated that HS2 would pose unique challenges. Construction underneath the Chiltern Hills would create the second longest tunnel in the UK, and the service was assessing ways in which it could best be prepared to respond to incidents arising within the tunnel with their existing resources, as no new funding would be made available to the service.

·       Hotter summers and wetter winters due to climate change would also alter future service provision with increased risk, including flooding.

Following questions, it was confirmed that:

·       Buckinghamshire service delivery area data service can access data from NHS and social services to identify areas and individuals likely to be at greater risk (over 80s etc) and reach out to them to ensure they remain safe. Anyone who knows someone not currently receiving help are welcome to pass on their info. Over 80s because correlation with dementia etc.

·       The Fire service worked closely with Buckinghamshire Council regarding road accident data, where accident hotspots had been identified.

·       It was anticipated that the Fire service would be heavily impacted by any future industrial action, owing to a high union membership among local Firefighters. A small number of military personnel had been used for service resilience alongside volunteer crews who could undertake basic firefighting roles to cover as many shortfalls in available firefighters as possible.

·       There was a desire to replace the current 4x4 vehicles in use by the service. Vehicles would be repurposed wherever possible. New, multipurpose vehicles would be ideal as a replacement, given the increased chance of operating in both warmer and colder climates moving forward.

·       Efforts to work with local road safety groups to educate drivers on proper road use were often frustrated by the fact that identified problem areas were used by a largely transient population on a work commute, making them difficult to reach out to.

Attendees thanked Stuart Grosse for his time and the important work that the Fire and Rescue Service carry out across the county and in the Community Board Area.