Agenda item

To receive a presentation by the Chief Fire Officer of the North Wales Fire & Rescue Service :-

·                 Current service provision on the Isle of Anglesey;

·                 Resilience, challenges and affordability of the current service delivery model on Anglesey;

·                 Joint working between the North Wales Fire and Rescue Service and the Isle of Anglesey County Council

As the Chair had declared an interest and left the meeting the Vice-Chair took the Chair for this item only.

Councillor Margaret M Roberts was elected to serve as Vice-Chair for this item only.

The Vice-Chair in the Chair welcomed Mr Stewart Forshaw, Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Mr Anthony Jones, Head of Planning, Performance and Transformation and Mr Eilian Roberts, Area Manager from the North Wales Fire & Rescue Service to the meeting.

A presentation was received by the Deputy Chief Fire Officer as regards to the North Wales Fire and Rescue Service profile, Anglesey Fire Stations, Local Authority Funding, Partnership Working, Business Fire Safety and Community Engagement.

The following were points of discussion by the Committee:-

·         The Vice-Chair ascertained the potential challenges the Fire & Rescue Service would face if both bridges across the Menai Straits were to close, and an emergency was to occur on the Island.  The Area Manager responded that occurrences of closure of the bridges have occurred due to high winds, and it is concerning that this will occur more frequently due to weather patterns due to climate change.  He noted that as a Fire & Rescue Service it is important to put pressure for a third crossing across the Menai Straits.  The Chief Executive appreciated the support of the Fire & Rescue Service for the Authority’s campaign for a third bridge as the resilience of the bridges are concerning as the population of the Island increases immensely during the holiday season, and the Port of Holyhead, which is the busiest port in Wales.  He noted that any data and examples the Fire & Rescue Service could afford will support and strengthen the campaign for a third bridge.

·         Reference was made that the majority of Fire Stations on Anglesey are listed as as ‘on-call’ only with a low percentage rate of daytime availability.  Questions were raised as to what extent does this pose a risk to residents and what plans are in place to improve availability across the Island to the future. The Deputy Chief Fire Officer responded that daytime availability of Fire Officers can be a challenge but on average the response time to a fire occurrence on Anglesey is 13 minutes.  The Holyhead Fire Station is available each day with support of a second appliance from the mainland. He noted that an Emergency Cover Review was undertaken by the Fire & Rescue Service recently and one of the options but forward to the Fire Authority was to turn the Llangefni Fire Station into daytime availability station, but it was rejected.  However, work is currently being undertaken to consider where the 3 most suitable locations could be identified for full-time availability across North Wales.  Further questions were raised as to the difficulties within recruitment of people within rural areas.  The Deputy Chief Fire Officer said that recruiting from rural areas can be a challenge especially with daytime availability.  The Emergency Cover Review considered affording full time Fire Stations within rural areas to give sustainability and job opportunities within the communities, and especially within Welsh speaking areas. 

·         Questions were raised as to whether the Fire & Rescue Service attend schools and colleges to promote career pathways within the Fire Service.  Further questions were raised as to whether engagement with local businesses is undertaken to release staff who are considering a role within the Fire Service on a part-time basis.  The Deputy Chief Fire Officer responded that there is a continued recruitment process within the Fire & Rescue Service and there is also a commitment to attract women to be part of the service.  He further said that it is a challenge for businesses to be able to release staff during the daytime due to financial constraints.   The Fire & Rescue Service affords a successful Fire Cadet opportunity in Menai Bridge for young people between 12 and 16 to achieve Level 1 to 3 Award in the Fire & Rescue Service.  The Deputy Chief Fire Officer referred to the Phoenix Project, where young people are released from school for a week to undertake worthwhile activities that will assist in the integration and respect of the individuals within their communities and the roles and opportunities within the Fire Service.

·         Questions were raised as to the career progression within the Fire & Rescue Service.  The Deputy Chief Fire Officer responded that the Fire & Rescue Service will be advertising for career opportunities within the next week.  He noted that a career within the Fire & Rescue Service is worthwhile and career progression is encouraged within the Service.  Further questions were raised that there seems to be a high level of retained and volunteering roles within the North Wales Fire & Rescue Service.  The Deputy Chief Fire Officer responded that retained roles are mainly within the Fire Stations on Anglesey but with full-time Fire Fighters located within the Holyhead Fire Station. 

·         Questions were raised as to how North Wales Fire & Rescue Service are dealing with false alarms and what percentage of false alarms are chargeable.  The Deputy Chief Fire Officer responded that false alarms are mainly within business settings and are not chargeable.

·         Reference was made during the presentation that partnership planning and delivery of exercises on the Wylfa site.  Questions were raised as to which other areas is it intended to arrange exercises.  The Area Manager responded that localised exercises are undertaken on a regular basis and large-scale exercises are undertaken in RAF Valley and on the Wylfa site with multiple other organisations.   The Port of Holyhead is also within the localised exercise programme where regular exercises are undertaken.  Training is also undertaken as regards to potential large-scale flooding and exercises are undertaken on the Menai Straits.  The Deputy Chief Fire Officer said that the Fire Service has a duty under the Fire & Rescue Services Act to collect and maintain risk information on known risks; Fire Officers regularly review the risks of sites i.e. Holyhead Port.  The Chief Executive raised that questions have been raised at a previous meeting of this Committee as to the fire risk at Newborough Forest and the ability of the emergency services to reach the forest due to traffic issues experienced, especially during the holiday season with people visiting the area. The Area Officer responded that tactical plans are in place to ensure that the Fire Services can respond to incidents that may arise and specialised vehicles attend such incidents.  He further said that regular visits are undertaken to the Newborough Forest site together with other agencies such as NRW. 

·         Reference was made to concerns that due to the geographical rural areas of the Island that the Fire Services could not attend within the specified 20 minutes respond time with the potential of risk of loss of lives. The Deputy Chief Fire Officer responded that the areas that are harder to reach within the specified 20 minutes respond time, fire engines from the mainland will also assist the crews on the Island.  He referred that the purpose of the Emergency Cover Review consultation was to review and improve the procedures the Fire Service currently provides and changing duty systems within the ‘whole-time’ fire stations to release full-time fire fighters to work within rural area.  The Deputy Chief Fire Officer further said that 18 fire engines are available daily within the region.  Fire Engines can also be moved into more strategic locations if the need arises.

It was RESOLVED to thank the representative from the North Wales Fire and Rescue Service for attending the meeting.