THE FUTURE of Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service is up for discussion.
Warwickshire residents are being urged to give their views on the service’s draft Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) from now until 2025.
Warwickshire County Council is keen to ensure residents and stakeholders have the opportunity to have their say on any actions which may impact their community or the county as a whole.
The document sets out the fire authority’s vision and priorities for the next five years, including those the service will focus on to help keep Warwickshire communities and businesses safer.
They include:
– to ensure the workforce and ethos reflect the communities served.
– to review and improve ways of working in response to any future pandemics.
– to assess resource capacity and ensure assets are in the right place and at the right time to deliver statutory duties.
– to develop further opportunities to support the health of the community and help to protect social care and the NHS.
– to implement digital solutions to enhance our service delivery.
Chief fire officer Kieran Amos said: “As a fire and rescue service we are continually evolving and responding to new risks and we need to be flexible in the way in which we manage our resources to achieve that. The way we have responded to covid-19 is a clear example of the ever changing role of the fire and rescue service with our staff not just responding to emergencies, but also delivering food parcels, essential medication and working in communities to support the most vulnerable through our hospital to home service.
“In order to develop the proposed document for 2020 to 2025, we have analysed and assessed all the information available and have developed the five key proposals for us to focus on in order to ensure that Warwickshire’s communities and individuals are supported to be safe, healthy and independent. These include further developing our work to better serve our customers and help support social care, public health, our climate and our economy. We will continue to develop our people and our service, to ensure we are diverse, inclusive and that we a more reflective of communities we serve, ensuring that we have the resources required, in the right locations to efficiently and effectively deliver our statutory duties and services.
“Your views are essential to this process. The more informed we are by your views, the better able we are to understand your expectations and deliver positive outcomes for the communities of Warwickshire.”
Community safety county councillor Andy Crump added: “Over the next few years, the county will see the make-up of its population change and the fire and rescue service needs to be ready to respond to the changes in demand for their services. The IRMP is a critical document and informs both the Service and our communities about how we plan to respond to emerging risks to keep communities as safe as possible and to make Warwickshire the best it can be, sustainable now and for future generations. So please do take the time to fill in the survey and help shape the future of your fire and rescue service.”
Visit warwickshire.gov.uk/fire-and-rescue for more details.
