To receive a presentation by the North Wales Fire and Rescue Service.
Minutes:
The Chair welcomed Mr Gwyn Jones, Community Safety Manager (Gwynedd & Anglesey) – North Wales Fire and Rescue Service to the meeting.
Mr Gwyn Jones gave a presentation to the Committee on the functions of the North Wales Fire and Rescue Service as regards to fire safety, firefighting, attending road traffic accidents and emergencies (water rescue/flooding) in accordance with the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004. He said that a decade ago statistics showed that North Wales had the highest proportion to population of deaths from accidental fires in dwellings in England and Wales and it was considered unacceptable. A Chief Fire Officer’s Task Group was established to examine the Service’s strategy and polices for preventing accidental deaths from fires within the home together with reviewing performance management processes and profiling of victims and fires incidents. Mr Jones further said that contributory factors to accidental deaths from fires were being alone; age (over half were over 60); having a disability; living in rented accommodation; smoking and cooking left unattended; alcohol and drugs and having no working smoke alarms. He said that the profile of the Fire & Rescue Service was reviewed with joint working undertaken with services within local authorities, police, health trust and other agencies to share information and identify vulnerable persons to avoid possible accidental fires and deaths. He further referred to a recruitment scheme undertaken by the North Wales Fire & Rescue Service on Anglesey which has resulted in 10 recruitments.
Mr Jones referred to the Performance Monitoring Report – April 2019 to September 2019 which was circulated to Members of the Committee. He noted that during the first half of 2019/20 the Service handled a total of 6,601 emergency calls and attended 2,653 emergencies including fires, false alarms and special service incidents. The Service attended slightly more road traffic accidents during the first half of this year than in the same period last year. He further said that during 2018, Welsh Government afforded funding to alleviate pressures on other Emergency Services as regards to ‘Falls within the Home’. The North Wales Fire & Rescue Service was able to attend to a persons who had sustained a fall within the home in one hour and this may have enabled that person not been on the floor for a considerable time and not having to be admitted to hospital and needing treatment. However, funding for the ‘Falls in the Home’ scheme has now ceased.
The Chair thanked the Community Safety Manager (Gwynedd & Anglesey) for his presentation. The Committee considered the information presented and made the following points:-
· Clarification was sought whether the Fire & Rescue Service were assisting or had taken over the ‘Falls in the Home’ scheme on behalf of the Health Trust Ambulance Service. The Community Safety Manager (Gwynedd & Anglesey) responded that the ‘Falls in the Home’ Scheme was a pilot scheme to reduce the pressure on the Health Service. Councillor Dylan Rees, the Council’s representative on the North Wales Fire & Rescue Service said that this was a highly successful pilot scheme and the Fire & Rescue Service was able to respond expeditiously than the Ambulance Service due to the pressures they are under. He said that statistic has shown that a lower proportion of patients were admitted to hospital and resulted in lowering the pressures on the health trust. The North Wales Fire & Rescue Service is disappointed that Welsh Government has ceased the funding towards the ‘Falls at Home’ scheme as evidence showed the success of the scheme. Members of the Committee considered that a letter be sent on behalf of this Committee to Welsh Government expressing their disappointment that the pilot scheme towards ‘Falls at Home’ scheme has ceased and Welsh Government needs to reconsider such a scheme;
· Reference was made that the recruitment of Fire Fighters and it was evident that Anglesey is dependent on persons volunteering for the Fire Service. The Community Safety Manager (Gwynedd & Anglesey) responded that recruitment within local communities is important and it was expressed that a salary is attached to any person volunteering to be a Fire Fighter.
The Chair thanked the Community Safety Manager (Gwynedd & Anglesey) for attending the meeting.
It was RESOLVED to write to Welsh Government expressing disappointment that the funding for the ‘Falls within the Home’ scheme has ceased and that Welsh Government should reconsider affording funding towards this scheme.
ACTION : As noted above.