Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service 'inadequate' at keeping people safe from fire risk, report finds
Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) is 'inadequate' at keeping people safe from fire, a report has found.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) says CFRS requires improvement in areas like looking after staff, and recruiting the right people with the right skills.
Matt Parr, His Majesty’s Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services, said: "I have other concerns about the service’s efficiency and how it looks after its workforce, particularly its ability to recruit the right people with the right skills, and whether the service will be affordable in the future.
"I do not underestimate how much improvement is needed and we will continue to closely monitor the service’s progress.”
He added that, at the time of the visit, the service was facing "near unprecedented uncertainty about its future governance" which "could not guarantee there would be no subsequent risk to the public".
The report did however commend CFRS on the productivity of the prevention and protection teams; CFRS carried out over 11,000 'safe and well' engagements last year - visiting homes, businesses and schools to provide guidance on fire safety and prevention.
It also said the service had responded proactively to learning from the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy; the service has assessed the risk of every high-rise building in the county, and carried out fire safety audits and collected risk information about buildings identified as high risk.
Commenting on the report, CFRS Chief Fire Officer, John Beard said: "Protecting the public and preventing fires and other emergencies is at the heart of everything we do and I’m enormously proud of the service we provide 365 days of the year, and I’m pleased that HMICFRS have positively recognised the good work our staff do to keep our communities safe.
"The Inspectorate has identified lots of good practice in our approach to preventing fires and other emergencies. When our communities need us, the Inspectorate recognised how good our operational response is and the availability of our firefighters.
"Since the time of the inspection we have already made good progress with the recommendations and will continue to work hard to ensure we improve."
Councillor Janet Willis, Cabinet Member for Customers, Transformation and Fire and Rescue added: "Whilst the HMICFRS have highlighted important elements of the Service that we are committed to improving, we would like to assure residents this is not about their safety – our fire crews continue to respond to the highest standard when called out in an emergency."
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