Fire and Rescue Plan (FRP) 2011-2014
Northumberland Fire and Rescue service is
seeking public opinion in relation to a new three-year plan that
will set out the priorities and projects to improve community
safety in the county.
Northumberland County Council’s Fire and
Rescue Plan (FRP) 2011-2014 has now been produced after
consultation, which took place between 18 December 2010 and 11
February 2011. The document is available at the bottom of this
page.
Since the last plan was produced the
performance of Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service has continued
to improve and the aim is to build on this trend in the years ahead
making Northumberland even safer.
The new plan builds on previous work and
introduces new initiatives to address the risks posed to
communities and businesses in Northumberland.
Central to this work is the prevention of
fires and other emergencies. This in turn will reduce the number of
deaths and injuries as well as incidents where property is
damaged.
What is FRP?
Put simply, it is our assessment of the local risk to life and
how we are going to deploy our resources. It is an approach to
managing risk which requires the service to re-focus and put people
first by concentrating on:
Preventing fires and other incidents from occurring in the first
place;
Ensuring that the service has the correct level of response in
the right place at the right time to deal with emergencies;
If specific or substantial issues come to light during the
periods covered by the annual FRP publication then these may
be consulted upon outside the FRP process if deemed
appropriate.
How does it all work?
In essence there are a number of defined stages:
- We identify our existing risks;
- We evaluate how well we deal with these risks;
- We identify opportunities for improvement;
- We determine policies and standards;
- We determine resources.
Since April 2003 every Fire and Rescue Authority has been
required to produce a local Intergrated Risk Management
Plan (IRMP) that sets out the authority's strategy, in
collaboration with other agencies, for:
- Reducing the number and severity of fires,
road traffic accidents and other emergency incidents occurring in
the area for which it is responsible;
- Reducing the severity of injuries in fires,
road traffic accidents and other emergency incidents;
- Reducing the commercial, economic and social
impact of fires and other emergency incidents;
- Safeguarding the environment and heritage
(both built and natural); and
- Providing value for money.
The FRP is Northumberlands IRMP which is a forward looking
document that details our plans for improvements in the years
ahead, reflecting local needs and tackling effectively both
existing and potential risk to communities.
However, Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service recognises that
it is essential that residents, partners and other stakeholders are
fully consulted regarding any future improvements and policy
proposals and that the opportunity is provided for people to have
their say.
A 12 week programme of consultation is undertaken to ensure that
we capture as wide ranging feedback as possible. From this a
summary is prepared and a final version of the FRP is produced
for approval by the Authority.
