Your commissioner Zoë Metcalfe

Your Commissioner Zoë Metcalfe

Your Commissioner - Your Voice

Commissioner Zoë can ask questions on your behalf in her Online Public Meeting with the Chief Constable or Chief Fire Officer. Ask your question and find out more.

Home - Risk and Resource Model Proposal and Consultation - Investing in Our Service

Investing in Our Service

Implementation of the proposals would deliver recurring funding, building up to just over £1.5m per year from 2025/26.

We would reinvest these funds in vital areas of our Service. Through the consultation on the Fire and Rescue Plan, you told us we should prioritise improving the availability of our On-call fire engines in rural areas and increasing prevention and protection work across the Service area.

Improving the availability of On-call fire engines

Between 08:00 and 18:00, when demand is highest, often more than 20% of our 31 On-call fire engines, that is six or more, cannot be mobilised due to low numbers of available On-call firefighters to crew them because fewer people live and work in the same community these days.

We need to invest more than £1.6m per year to deliver a sustainable model that improves On-call availability. We expect to be able to deliver this investment in 2025/26. We would invest in a range of improvements to attract, recruit and retain On-call firefighters.

Investment beyond On-call improvements

During both 2023/24 and 2024/25 we would provide opportunities for people to move from primarily response roles to specialist prevention and protection roles. Permanent investment in prevention will need to be a key area for consideration within the next Risk and Resource Model.