Scottish Fire And Rescue Highland Division Report

24th May 2023

Of the 14 headline indicators and targets, the following performance should be noted for the six-month period October 2022 to March 2023.

 There were 77 Accidental Dwelling Fires (ADF) which is slightly above the 3-year average. The majority are classed as low severity, requiring little or no intervention from the Service and minimal fire damage.

There were 0 ADF Fatalities, and 17 ADF Casualties. All ADF's are offered HFSV's and agency referrals where required.

 We attended 87 Road Traffic Collisions (RTCs) which is slightly below average. There were 7 RTC Related Fatalities (21 for the year 22/23) and 39 RTC Related Injuries. The number is significantly higher than in previous years and our Prevention
teams are working with partner agencies through the Highland Road Safety group, Older driver Virtual Reality Scheme and Road Safety Scheme for new drivers.

 A total of 78 Deliberate Fires, these include 18 Deliberate Primary Fires and 59 Deliberate Secondary Fires which is just slightly below the 3-year average. Referrals are made to other agencies for those at risk within our communities.

 There were 35 Non-Domestic Building Fires which is average.

 We undertook 120 Fire Safety Enforcement Audits. Supported Short Term Let enquiries and work streams, and conducted 3 prohibitions and 18 action plans

 We attended 690 Unwanted Fire Alarm Signals (UFAS) showing a trend of increasing UFAS (1453 for the year). From the 1st July, the way we attend UFAS is changing (See Appendix 2).

 Our Community Safety Advocates and Station personnel undertook 972 Home Fire Safety Visits. The majority targeted the most at risk in our communities.

 Our firefighters continue to train in all aspects of their role to ensure they are operationally prepared for what is required and we continued to gather information on local risks to assist us in an emergency through our operational intelligence visits and exercises.

 We continue to support partnership delivery of road safety programmes with our partners as well as working to reduce fire-related antisocial behaviour through targeted youth engagement activities and thematic action plans, as well as our Youth Volunteer programme and Fire Skills courses.

 In areas of Highland, we have seen successful recruitment and availability (18 appliances above 90% and 34 above 70%). However, we do face some challenges in areas where population levels are low or decreasing. To support our On-Call stations, increase recruitment and provide cover we employ 11 full-time rural Watch Commanders (the highest number across Scotland) and have rolled our two Highland trials to support availability.

 A joint mobilising process whereby two appliances who do not have safe minimum crewing numbers available can meet at an agreed rendezvous point to give them enough crew to safely respond to the incident;

 A formalised process which will allow On-Call staff to undertake paid duties at other stations to increase their staffing levels, undertake prevention activities and thereby increase appliance availability.

 The improvements and learning we have made have assisted in the On-Call improvement programme and recommendations to improve the service.

 Across Highland, we have 96 people in the recruitment process for On-Call. There has been a large increase in local initiatives, some of which you can see in Appendix 1 highlighting the fantastic work our crews are involved in, away from emergency response.

Read the full report HERE
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