Firefighters taking longer to reach 999 call outs

FIREFIGHTERS in Leicestershire are taking longer to reach fires than at any point in the last decade.

New statistics published by the Home Office show it took firefighters an average of 10m 21s to reach a fire in 2018/19.

That’s the slowest time since 2009/10 when the government began calculating response times using the current method.

In 2009/10 it took an average 8m 43s for fire teams to respond to a major incident – including call handling, the crew turnout time and the drive time.

The figure is also the highest since records began in 1994 – though before 2009/10 they were calculated in meaning they comparable.

Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: “In a fire, a matter of seconds could be the difference between life and death, so these figures are incredibly alarming.

“Services have been cut to the bone, and it’s obvious that with fewer firefighters and scarcer resources, firefighters are taking longer to get to fires, putting lives and businesses at risk.

“This is just part of the picture. Many services are not properly crewing fire engines, so there is no guarantee that there will be a safe number of firefighters on board when it arrives.

“The slowing of response times has been gradual, but the impact over a number of years is staggering. a different way, are not strictly “The government urgently needs to invest in our services and, crucially, we need national standards to set a required response time. Every second counts.”

The figure includes all “primary” fires.

A primary fire includes building fires, vehicle fires, and those that take place in other outdoor locations such as aircraft or boats.

It also includes serious fires where people are at risk or where a large number of fire pumps have to attend.

Last year fire services across England as a whole recorded their slowest response times in the last decade – taking an average 8m 49s to respond to fires.

That’s also the slowest since records began in 1994. time

Response times have gradually trended upwards since 2009/10.

That year it took fire and rescue teams an average 7m 57s to respond to a primary fire.

The rise in response times has come even as the number of fires has fallen – from 88,695 in 2009/10 to 67,076 in 2018/19.

The findings were released one day after a report called for significant reform in several areas of the fire service across England.

In the first ever annual report into the state of our fire services, Chief Inspector Sir Thomas Winsor said that services need to improve how they comply with building fire safety regulations, criticised a ‘toxic’ environment for staff, and expressed concern that union influence was preventing reform.