Trial that has seen response times improve gets the go ahead

A trial that has seen our response times to emergencies improve has been given the go ahead.

The pilot, that has been running since June 2023, has involved sending an extra crew of three on-call firefighters (workers that respond to emergency incidents from their home or workplace) to incidents, instead of relying on the next nearest fire engine with a crew of four firefighters. During the trial period our average response time to incidents has improved.

These teams of three can attend smaller incidents such as a bin or car fire or they can support other crews at larger incidents.  During the 17-month trial period teams of three have attended over 600 incidents.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer Glynn Luznyj said: “We will always strive to have at least four firefighters on a fire engine, however having a minimum of three on-call firefighters available to respond as an extra resource means that they can attend incidents quicker than the next nearest fully crewed appliance, which may be several miles away. Time is critical at emergencies and having firefighters arrive earlier can help limit the escalation of an incident.

“We recognise that at some incidents they will not be able to fully resolve the incident by themselves but they can make important interventions in the time that the public would normally be waiting for a full crew to attend.

“We recently carried out a public consultation as part of our next four-year plan and 83 per cent of respondents voted overwhelmingly in favour of us using our resources in this way. In addition, three staff surveys have also voted in support of this policy. There have been some concerns raised by the representative bodies and so we have listened to these concerns and made changes to the incident types that crews of three can attend. We’re confident that we now have a new policy that improves response times, maintains firefighter safety and also increases on-call firefighter morale.”

Staffordshire Commissioner for Police, Fire & Rescue and Crime Ben Adams said: “I am supportive of Staffordshire Fire & Rescue’s decision to give the crewing in threes pilot the go-ahead, as it brings real advantages to both the fire crews themselves and our communities.

“Crewing in threes allows the Service to greatly improve the safety of the public. They will be able to attend more incidents, some which the team can resolve themselves and some where they will provide valuable support for other full teams.

“It also builds up the on-call team’s experience, local knowledge and confidence.”

This new policy has come into immediate effect and only applies to on-call firefighters. Full time fire engines will be crewed with four firefighters as an absolute minimum.