Every year, fire services are legally required to publish an annual report called the Statement of Assurance. A few weeks ago, this report for our own West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service was published. It can be easily viewed here on the County Council’s website.
This document provides the evidence and confidence that the fire and rescue service is meeting its strategic objectives. We are very pleased to say this report clearly evidences the great progress that West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service is making to deliver on the commitments they made in the Community Risk Management Plan, which is our current four-year plan for the fire service.
It’s great to report that the performance indicators for the West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service are exceptionally strong, with out of the 30 recorded measures, 26 were Green (on target), two were Amber and two were Red. A great team effort, our fire service has performed brilliantly over the last year, and at the political level, our Conservative administration has strongly invested in the service and provided the support that has helped our fire service to thrive. As well as significant extra funding over the last few years, we also brought forward the new Horsham Fire Training Centre & Fire Station, which is an exceptional sector-leading facility.
This last financial year gave the service its first 12-months working of its new automatic fire alarm policy. The policy change resulted in a 66% reduction in unwanted fire signals, allowing fire crews to be more effective with their time, by undertaking community-based risk reduction activities and essential training. Response times in getting to emergencies continue to be good, and are now even better in the east of the county where we have invested in additional crewing at weekends.
The fire service has exceeded its target of delivering 5,000 Safe and Well Visits, with a total of 5,335 being completed. Excellent prevention activity has been making a positive impact. Injuries from fire in West Sussex are very low and it being almost two years since there has been a tragedy of having a death from fire in the whole of West Sussex. Our fire service are doing a great job of helping to keep people safe across our county and we thank everyone in the service for the part they play in doing so.
Our fire stations are in the middle of their annual open days. They are as follows for the summer and the crews will be delighted to see you.
- East Preston Fire Station – 22 June, 10am – 4pm
- Worthing Fire Station – 20 July, 9am - 10am for S.E.N families, 10am – 4pm for everyone.
- Bognor Regis Fire Station – 27 July, 10am – 4pm
- Crawley Fire Station – 10 August, 9.30am - 10.30am for S.E.N families, 10.30am – 4pm for everyone
- Shoreham Fire Station – 17 August, 9am – 4pm
- Haywards Heath Fire Station – 24 August, 10.30am – 11.30am for S.E.N families, 11.30am – 4pm for everyone
- Burgess Hill Fire Station – 28 August, 9:30am – 10am for S.E.N families, 10am – 2pm for everyone
- East Grinstead Fire Station - 25 August, 9.30am – 10.30am for S.E.N. families, 10.30am – 4.30pm for everyone