Our Statutory Duties

We play a crucial role in making our communities safer. We do this by preventing and protecting people from fire and other risks, and by responding effectively to emergencies when they occur. We fulfil the Government’s priorities in the Fire and Rescue National Framework (2018) which requires fire and rescue authorities to:

•  make appropriate provision for fire prevention and protection activities and response to fire and rescue related incidents;
•  identify and assess the full range of foreseeable fire and rescue related risks their areas face;
•  collaborate with emergency services and other local and national partners to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the service they provide;
• be accountable to communities for the service they provide; and
•  develop and maintain a workforce that is professional, resilient, skilled, flexible and
  diverse.

We must ensure that we make provision for:

• extinguishing fires;
• protecting life and property in the event of fires;
• rescuing and protecting people in the event of a road traffic collision; and
• rescuing and protecting people in the event of other emergencies.

Community Risk Management Plan

For each Fire and Rescue Service in England, these statutory duties are built into a Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP). The Fire and Rescue National Framework states: “Every Fire and Rescue Authority must assess all foreseeable fire and rescue
related risks that could affect their communities, whether they are local, cross-border, multi-authority and/or national in nature from fires to terrorist attacks.Regard must be had to Community Risk Registers produced by Local Resilience Forums and any other local risk analyses as appropriate.”

The Chief Fire Officer produces a CRMP covering at least a three year period. Our last CRMP was known locally as our Risk and Resource Model (RRM). Its aim is to improve community safety by reducing risk through making the best use of our people and our resources, such as our fire engines. We have refocused our work towards preventing
incidents from occurring in the first place. By improving our offer to the public through
closer work with partner agencies and staff whose role is dedicated to preventing
incidents from occurring in the first place, we provide communities with a service
that is ‘value for money’ whilst also making sure we provide a safe working environment for our firefighters.