Click here to access the NWIEP website pages for Fire and Rescue

The North West Fire and Rescue Services(NWFRS) have a strong collective track record as evidenced by the high CPA scores and other external assessments; However, despite the strong performance of the FRSs the Northwest region has the highest number of fire deaths nationally.

Only two indicators in the new performance management framework are directly relevant to the FRSs and these may not form part of many local area agreements. However FRSs have a valuable contribution to make, to community safety and youth engagement for local partnerships. In addition we will have a significant role in the reduction of CO2 emissions by virtue of our pioneering research into the reduction of carbon emissions from fires coupled with improved environmental management.

All the NWFRSs through the Fire & Rescue Management Board are committed and collaborate to secure a safer and more sustainable North West.

In order to realise real improvements in this area it is essential that FRS work in partnership and increase their community engagement to gain an understanding of the context for improvement.

The 2008 – 11 regional strategy is seen as an opportunity to continue improvement and the priorities for NWFRS working within the partnership are;

Community leadership: Engaging young people and continuing our work with multi-ethnic and diverse communities is a priority; we will build on Merseyside’s learning as a Beacon authority for young people, and we are already involved in different parts of the region in knowledge management and ‘behaviour change’ research and we will extend this further. We also want to ensure our leaders have the capacity and capability to effectively engage with their local community partners to deliver improvements in this area.
Value-for-money: This is a continuing priority but one that now needs further drive and urgency. Working with NWCE, we have made some progress on six efficiency workstreams but we believe that we need stronger networking at regional level for 2008 -11. We also want to take advantage of opportunities presented by the new NW RIEP.
Environmental sustainability: The aim is to develop a framework for environmental improvements, to share knowledge and experience in relation to environmental management and sustainability issues and to work together to reduce the impact NWFRS activities have on the environment. We know that we can do more as public service organisations, starting with Carbon Trust audits to establish a baseline and also to learn from other sectors. In the operational arena pioneering work has commenced to measure carbon emissions from fires and associated environmental effects.
Innovation: The spreading and adopting of good practice in the fire service is sometimes characterised as ‘tombstone innovation’. We want proactive innovation through a more systematic and facilitated approach to networking. There are a number of key issues – such as water rescue, road traffic casualties and diversity – that we believe we can improve in this way.

Lead Contact:

Ged Murphy
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service
email: gmurphy@manchesterfire.gov.uk

Click here to access the NWIEP website pages for Fire and Rescue