Less accidental and deliberate fires in Dorset
Dorset Fire service hit key targets despite Coronavirus Restrictions
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service have continued to deliver against their key targets despite the pandemic.
The latest figures given to the fire and rescue authority show a 12 per cent reduction in accidental property fires.
There's also been a 22 per cent reduction in fires started deliberately in the last year.
Coronavirus restrictions meant that staff had to consider innovative ways to deliver their work. An example of this is the innovative road safety education packages, which received national recognition and have contributed toward the 33% reduction in road traffic collisions across the Service area in 2021-21.
The Service continued with its commitment to protect the public through fire safety regulation and conducted almost 400 fire safety audits of commercial premises and achieved a 17% reduction in unwanted automatic fire alarms.
Thankfully operational demand for the Service was down during 2020-21, due to Coronavirus lockdowns.
However, during May and June 2020 the Service dealt with one of the largest wildfires in living memory in Wareham Forest, Dorset. The incident lasted almost eight weeks, with additional costs of over £570,000. Fire Authority Members were presented with an update on the fire and the work that the Service are involved in to prevent such wildfires in the future.
In 2020-21, Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service have also:
- Kept health and care workers safe by undertaking 1,785 respiratory PPE FaceFit tests.
- Supported the vaccination programme through helping at mass vaccination centres
- Supported South Western Ambulance Service by driving emergency ambulances. Firefighters have completed 1,590 shifts, attending over 3,400 emergency calls.
Chief Fire Officer, Ben Ansell said: "2020-21 was an extremely challenging year. Staff from across the Service have and continue to go above and beyond to help their communities, ensuring that we can still deliver our prevention, protection and emergency response functions. We have achieved this whilst also undertaking extraordinary roles to support our partners and, in particular, the NHS.
He added: "Despite the challenges we have faced, I am very pleased with the performance of the Service. We continue to operate in a challenging financial climate, with difficult decisions to be made, but our fantastic staff are key to ensuring we keep our communities safe, whether at home, at work or on our roads. I look forward to working with Cllr Knox and our new Fire and Rescue Authority over the coming year to ensure we do our best to build on and continue this excellent work."