Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service sees 4% drop in accidental house blazes
They're putting it down to their Safe and Well visits
There's been a 4.4% reduction in accidental house fires across the Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service area in the last year.
That's compared to the five year average, in figured released at the Brigade's Annual General Meeting.
The Service is putting the fall down to the success of their free Safe and Well visits, which sees firefighters going out to the homes of vulnerable people and giving them safety advice, even installing smoke alarms for those that don't have them already.
7,700 visits have been carried out in the 2021-22 financial year.
COST SAVINGS AND TARGETS HIT
Other figures unveiled at the same meeting showed that DWFRS has seen the number of unwanted fire alarms has dropped 9% in the last year, compared to the five year average.
That's saved the service £175,000 in unnecessary call-outs and staffing.
There's also good news when it comes to response times, with fire engines reaching emergencies in an average of 9 minutes 24 seconds.
The target set by DWFRS themselves in 10 minutes to reach an incident.
Chief Fire Officer, Ben Ansell said:
“2021-22 was another 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 continuing our support for partners, and in particular, the NHS.
“We continue to operate in a challenging financial climate, and we are now faced with some serious and difficult decisions in order to maintain a balanced budget. The fantastic staff we have are vital to ensuring we keep our communities safe, whether at home, at work or on our roads. I look forward to continue working over the coming year to ensure we do our best to build on and continue this excellent work."