Fire service safety proposals considered

Councillors will be asked to endorse a three-year fire and rescue plan for keeping communities safe across Norfolk, when cabinet meets on Monday 6 March.

A final version of Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service's Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) has been produced following public consultation with residents and organisations across the county.

The draft plan included seven proposals around areas including strengthening prevention work with vulnerable residents, trialling more work to support emergency medical response and aligning how it measures its response to emergencies to other fire services.

"The public have met with us across Norfolk at our consultation events to find out more about the proposals and give their views, which have helped to shape the final version of the document. We are very grateful to everyone that took part," said Councillor Margaret Dewsbury, Cabinet Member for Communities and Partnerships at Norfolk County Council.

Following the consultation period, the service will now consider one of the original proposals (5) - to provide a 'roaming' fire engine- within wider plans to review how it recruits and retains on-call firefighters across Norfolk (proposal 7).

Among the changes that will be implemented from April onwards are to move a water rescue unit (known as a technical rescue unit) from Thetford over to Great Yarmouth, where risk data shows it is more often needed. Enhanced water rescue training for our specialist flood response crews will also be brought in across the service later this year.

Following positive feedback, the service will also consider investing in more 4x4 agile vehicles, alongside a review of the challenging summer heat conditions, to support its work as the types of emergency incidents it faces in the county continue to change and evolve.

As well as having input into whether the proposals in the draft plan went ahead, the public opinions and comments received will also be used to shape how the service implements some of the proposals. For example, exploring further ideas around how to best recruit firefighters in local communities.

Cabinet will consider the report when it meets at 10am on Monday, 6 March. You can read the report and watch the meeting, live or afterwards.