It s Your Fire & Rescue Service... What we delivered for You in 2012/13

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1 It s Your Fire & Rescue Service... What we delivered for You in 2012/13 Protecting Our Community

2 Everyone in Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service (NIFRS) is proud to be part of your Fire and Rescue Service and it s important for us to let you know what we have delivered for you over the past year. We are accountable to you and so we need to measure our performance and report on how we are doing. Over the past year (2012/13) we have responded to a wide range of emergencies and rescued hundreds of people from fires, road traffic collisions and other specialist rescue incidents such as flooding. Protecting our community and keeping our Firefighters safe and well trained is always our top priority. At the back of this leaflet you ll find important fire safety advice to help keep you and your family safe from fire in your home. NIFRS appreciates the fantastic support we receive from the community for the work we do and we can assure you of our continued commitment to provide the best fire and rescue service possible to everyone in Northern Ireland. Jim Wallace Chief Executive Fire & Rescue Service Facts: We provide fire and rescue services to the people of Northern Ireland, an area of over 5,500 square miles, with a population of 1.81 million. We respond to a wide range of emergencies including fires, road traffic collisions, specialist rescue incidents, flooding, collapsed buildings, chemical incidents etc. We also provide community safety education, advice and a legal enforcement service to help keep people safe from fires and other emergency incidents that we respond to. Our team consists of 2,181 members of staff in a range of Operational and Support roles, who work at our 68 Fire Stations across Northern Ireland (covering 4 Area Commands), at our Headquarters in Lisburn (where our 999 Regional Control Centre is based) and also at our Training Centre in Belfast....36,793 emergency ca lls handled...24,30 8 emergency incidents attended...

3 ...hoax calls reduced by 29.6%...deliberate fire setting down 37%... We are funded by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) and are governed by the NIFRS Board, which comprises of a Chair and 10 Non-Executive members appointed by the Public Safety Minister. In 2012/13 the original total revenue resource for operational activities made available from DHSSPS to NIFRS was m, which was revised in subsequent monitoring rounds to m. *A full copy of our Financial Statements will be published within our Annual Report 2012/13 and made available on What we believe in and stand for: We believe in our vision: Protecting Our Community We have a clear mission: To deliver a fire and rescue service and work in partnership with others to ensure the safety and well-being of our community. We value: People, Leadership, Teamwork, Integrity, Diversity, Communication, Partnership and the Pursuit of Excellence. What you can expect from us: Your safety, our community well-being in Northern Ireland and the safety of our Firefighters is what drives everything we do. We want you to be proud of us and confident in the work we do to protect you, providing at all times the highest standards of professionalism and value for money within the resources that we have.

4 During 2012/13 here s how we have performed for you... We Responded to Emergencies We now have a new statutory responsibility to respond to serious flooding incidents and in 2012/13 we were widely praised for our operational response to flooding incidents across Northern Ireland. Handled 36,793 emergency 999 calls to our Regional Control Centre and attended 24,308 emergency incidents across Northern Ireland (a 14.6% and 10.5% reduction respectively when compared to the previous year 2011/12). Attended 3,063 major fires and rescued 214 people. Attended 649 road traffic collisions (RTCs) and rescued 516 people. Attended 1,688 special service calls (ie not fire or RTC incidents) and rescued 745 people. Met or exceeded the expectations of 99% of respondents to our Customer Satisfaction Survey on our Emergency Response Service. Throughout the year we participated in numerous live multi-agency emergency training exercises to test our operational response, procedures and resilience in various emergency scenarios and to validate procedures when working with other partner agencies to enhance Firefighter and public safety....major fire rescues increased by 23.7%...1,688 special service calls attended...

5 We Developed a Safer Community Carried out 8,661 free home fire safety checks, fitted 4,642 smoke alarms and distributed 173,496 fire safety leaflets right across Northern Ireland targeting and prioritising the most at risk groups in our community. 11* people in Northern Ireland lost their lives in accidental house fires during 2012/13-1 person more than in 2011/12. We want to reach a stage where we have no lives lost in accidental house fires in Northern Ireland. That has to be our goal. Reduced secondary fires (the majority of which result from deliberate fire setting) by 37% to 4,978 - a 50% reduction in the past 2 years. Reduced the number of hoax calls by 29.6% to 1,957. Audited 4,419 non-domestic premises across Northern Ireland, as the enforcing authority for Fire Safety Legislation, to ensure that the required fire safety standards are being met. Engaged extensively with the community on gorse fires and has seen a reduction of 67% in gorse fire incidents attended 1,213 compared to 3,656 the previous year. Reduced, through community education and engagement, the number of incidents attended by Fire Crews on Halloween night by 8% calls received and 133 incidents attended representing the lowest figure recorded for 31 October since Contributed to the lowest number of firework injuries since records began 56% reduction from the previous year in the number of people attending A&E across Northern Ireland with firework related injuries....8,661 home fire safety checks carried out...4,642 smoke alarms fitted... * Subject to State Pathologist s Report

6 We Supported Our People Appointed 36 new trainee Firefighters (33 male and 3 female Firefighters). Launched a major recruitment drive for Retained (on call) Firefighters in 37 Fire Stations across Northern Ireland. Delivered 16,538 training days for our staff. Was awarded the prestigious Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Health and Safety Gold Medal for the 7th consecutive year in recognition of our commitment in health and safety. Reduced our total on duty accidents by 27% to 119. We are proud to have been awarded accredited membership of Employers for Disability Northern Ireland for our work in supporting employees and service users with disabilities. We Protected the Environment Ran an internal energy awareness campaign to inspire action on climate change. We have pledged to cut our C0 2 emissions by 25% by Remained committed to sustainability and protecting our environment through the NIFRS Recycling Policy which has resulted in 64 skips of waste being collected for recycling over the past year....reduced on-duty accidents by 27%... delivered 16,538 training days for our staff...

7 We Managed our Resources The past year has been hallmarked by a sea change in both our operational and organisational environments. We have remained resolute in our commitment to improve continually during 2013/14. Invested over 1.5m in 13 new Fire Appliances, 21 rapid response vehicles and 13 ancillary vehicles, as well as investing in specialist firefighting and rescue equipment and in upgrading our ICT infrastructure. y Progressed our Capital Investment Programme and completed the refurbishment of Rathfriland Community Fire Station and progressed work on the new Community Fire Station in Omagh. Continued to work closely with partner organisations to deliver on the new NI Community Safety College at Desertcreat. This inter-agency project will become a world class training facility for Police, Fire and Prison Services and will greatly enhance the safety of the public. Get in touch with us: If you would like to get in touch with your Fire & Rescue Service you can phone Headquarters on , go online for more information us at enquiries@nifrs.org or follow us on Facebook and Twitter....Road Traffic Collision rescues increased by 48.7%...deliberate primary fires reduced by 18.4%

8 NIFRS Fire Safety Advice Protect Yourself and Your Family from Fire in your Home Every day we make important choices within our lives. We either decide to protect ourselves, our families and our community from the dangers of fire or we simply don t. The stark consequences of these choices can be the difference between life and death. Help Prevent Fires arrange for a Free Home Fire Safety Check This is an important call to action to all households in Northern Ireland to avail of our Free Home Fire Safety Check. Call , Text phone/ Minicom or go to our Website for further information. Basic Fire Safety Advice Ensure you have a working smoke alarm and test it once a week to make sure it is working. Never leave cooking unattended. Never leave chip pans unattended and never throw water over a pan on fire. Unplug electrical appliances if you are not using them and don t overload sockets and adapters. Be careful when disposing of smoking materials and keep matches and lighters out of reach of children. Never leave candles unattended and put them out completely at night. Make sure you have a night time fire safety routine and a fire escape plan so that all your family know what to do in a fire and how to escape safely. If a fire starts, get out stay out and call 999. NIFRS is committed to providing equal access to information for everyone. To access a copy in an alternative format (including large print, Braille, audio cassette or in minority ethnic languages for those not fluent in English) please contact the Corporate Communications Department at Headquarters on