Report on Proposal to Close Radlett Fire Station
Compiled by:
Radlett Fire Station Crew
31st October 2005
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
We, the Radlett Fire Crew, unanimously oppose the proposal to close Radlett Fire Station on the basic premise that the value of our work in the community far outweighs its cost.
The Chief Fire Officer’s proposal represents the single largest threat to the basic promise to our community, which, for 98 years, local personnel have kept and intend to continue keeping in the future. This report represents the dedication of the Radlett Fire Crew to focus upon making Hertfordshire a safer place and sets out the basis for our opposition, together with supporting evidence where appropriate.
This report contains an analysis of the effect of the proposal upon national objectives and predicts significantly adverse effects upon the Fire and Rescue Service Directorate’s ability to achieve these.
This report contains an analysis of the effect of the proposal upon local objectives and predicts that the number and severity of incidents in the area will increase as a result of this significant reduction in Fire & Rescue Service resources in the area.
The risk profile on which the proposal has been based is scrutinised against a recognised risk management methodology, which suggests that the risk assessment may be significantly incorrect and, as such, should be independently verified prior to any closure.
A Cost benefit Analysis has been conducted for Radlett Fire Station, which concludes that the benefits to the community are considerable and that the station will continue to prove a sound economic investment for the future.
Marketing of this proposal undoubtedly faces significant hurdles due to the high levels of support within the community for the station and its personnel. This would also suggest that a great deal of political risk is attached to supporting this proposal.
Our vision for Radlett Fire Station is one of an effective, efficient and economical Community Safety Centre, which reflects 100 years of working to a sound business plan that improves the safety of the community and consequently makes it more sustainable and prosperous.
Evidence of our commitment to this vision is found in the performance of Radlett Fire Crews for 100 years and we request that this proposal be reversed as soon as possible so that we may continue our community service without further threat of redundancy.
The Chief Fire Officer’s proposal represents the single largest threat to the basic promise to our community, which, for 98 years, local personnel have kept and intend to continue keeping in the future. This report represents the dedication of the Radlett Fire Crew to focus upon making Hertfordshire a safer place and sets out the basis for our opposition, together with supporting evidence where appropriate.
This report contains an analysis of the effect of the proposal upon national objectives and predicts significantly adverse effects upon the Fire and Rescue Service Directorate’s ability to achieve these.
This report contains an analysis of the effect of the proposal upon local objectives and predicts that the number and severity of incidents in the area will increase as a result of this significant reduction in Fire & Rescue Service resources in the area.
The risk profile on which the proposal has been based is scrutinised against a recognised risk management methodology, which suggests that the risk assessment may be significantly incorrect and, as such, should be independently verified prior to any closure.
A Cost benefit Analysis has been conducted for Radlett Fire Station, which concludes that the benefits to the community are considerable and that the station will continue to prove a sound economic investment for the future.
Marketing of this proposal undoubtedly faces significant hurdles due to the high levels of support within the community for the station and its personnel. This would also suggest that a great deal of political risk is attached to supporting this proposal.
Our vision for Radlett Fire Station is one of an effective, efficient and economical Community Safety Centre, which reflects 100 years of working to a sound business plan that improves the safety of the community and consequently makes it more sustainable and prosperous.
Evidence of our commitment to this vision is found in the performance of Radlett Fire Crews for 100 years and we request that this proposal be reversed as soon as possible so that we may continue our community service without further threat of redundancy.
We recommend that the proposal to close Radlett Fire Station be withdrawn because the station will continue to demonstrate increasing levels of financial and social benefits to our community.
Acknowledgement
We wish to take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge the commitment of those people who have served on the Fire Crew at Radlett since 1905. These people have our utmost respect, particularly for those times in the past when emergencies, and the environments they have occurred in, have proven both physically and mentally demanding.
We also wish to express gratitude to the families and local employers of past crewmembers for their support and understanding of the 24hr on call system.
At this very difficult time, we wish to acknowledge the help and support that we have received from the Save Radlett Fire Station Action Group and the wider community.
We acknowledge the difficult decision that our councillors will take in February and are confident in their ability to make the right choice for us all.
Background
Fire cover started in Radlett when Aldenham Parish Council established a Fire Brigade in 1905 with the first station completed in 1907. The village has been served without a break by a fire service made up wholly of local residents, giving 24hr cover to the village, 365 days of the year to the present day.
A group of local residents and business owners formed Radlett Fire Brigade and built the first station, housing a horse drawn steam pump, using funds raised locally. In October 1927, a small cricket bat was auctioned to raise funds for the purchase of Radlett’s first motorised appliance, a Dennis fire engine that was named ‘Little Bat’.
The crew attended calls to properties in the developing village, extinguishing fires in chimneys, surrounding fields and regularly dealing with the results of sparks from the trains passing through the village. The main method of risk control employed up until World War 2 was intervention with the emphasis on fire hazards.
At the outbreak of World War 2, most of the crew at the time were drafted to fight, so a reserve crew in the home guard vein, under the direction of the National Fire Service, gave fire cover to the area, most notably protecting the Handley-Page Aircraft Company.
The post war era saw advances in training & equipment and the restructuring of the fire service nationally resulted in the 1947 Fire Services Act and Hertfordshire County Council became the Fire Authority. Hertfordshire Fire Brigade was formed in 1948 and Radlett was designated as Station 13. A new station was built in 1968, which has served the area to the present day.
Intervention at road traffic collisions became commonplace throughout the sixties and, in the seventies, new legislation and subsequent advancement in fire prevention began to take place and in 1989 Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue Service was created to reflect the widened role in public safety. The nineties saw a move toward preventative community fire safety activity emerge. As a result the Radlett crew began installing smoke detectors, targeting the young and the elderly at community talks and giving fire safety advice in the area at schools, community groups, carnivals, fetes and other local events.
More recently, the Fire & Rescue Services Act 2004 came into being and the subsequent Fire and Rescue Service Framework has set out the objectives for Fire Authorities to achieve through an Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP). The ultimate objective is to improve the safety of communities, and consequently make them more sustainable and prosperous. In 2005 Radlett Fire Station adopted a business plan to ensure achievement of these objectives at a local level.
The Threat to National Objectives
The key objective for the government’s Fire and Rescue Service Directorate is to modernise the Fire and Rescue Service in England, in line with the June 2003 White Paper and the National Framework.
The Directorate is striving to achieve a Service which:
1. Is proactive in preventing fires and other risks, rather than only reacting to fires
2. Acts in support of the Government's wider agenda of social inclusion, neighbourhood renewal and crime reduction
3. Has effective institutions that support its role
4. Is well-managed and effective
5. Is committed to developing and adapting to changing circumstances, including the threat of terrorism and environmental disaster.
The closure of Radlett Station may be expected to have the following effect upon these national objectives:
The current proactive risk prevention resources in the area (personnel, station, appliance and equipment) will be removed completely. Radlett fire crews have carried out local community fire safety initiatives for 98 years with the low incidence of fire in the area evidencing the benefits of this vital work. We have also provided an extremely effective fire and rescue capability during this time. It is proposed that a Community Safety Task Force will conduct this work. This team will have other duties, other areas to cover and will not provide an intervention capability.
A Retained Fire Station provides a service to the local community, delivering a proactive approach to safety issues with an emphasis on fire safety. The Station provides a focal point for community safety and welfare for the local community and organisations; helping to make the community safer for all.This service is provided by local people, the removal of which threatens social inclusion, as the local community safety centre is removed and 13 local people are made redundant. These are jobs that will no longer exist for future generations of Radlett residents.
The ODPM neighbourhood renewal initiative advocates working with local agencies to improve and link their services at a local neighbourhood level. This proposal threatens neighbourhood renewal in the Radlett area, as it requires the scrapping of plans to remodel the building into a Community Safety Centre, a proposal first raised in July 2004. Contact with and between community groups facilitated by local personnel will cease.
The Threat to National Objectives (continued).
It is unlikely that the Radlett Crime Reduction Group will have a regular local fire service representative and, as such, the link with this crime reduction partnership may be broken. The involvement of local firefighters in RCRG initiatives will cease.
The closure of Radlett Fire Station comes one year short of it’s centenary as an effective institution for community safety. In that time there has never been a fire death in the village despite a national average that projects one fatality in every ten-year period for a town of this size. There is likely to be a significant impact should a death occur following closure of the station, which may result in a civil action being filed.
The current county response to the threat of terrorism is based on government principles and entails the Incident Response Unit accompanied by 8 Hertfordshire fire engines. The Radlett crew’s contribution in the event of a terrorist incident north of the River Thames is at present to cover the workload stations supplying these fire engines. There is a possibility that Radlett may be required at such an incident to carry out a specialist role such as maintaining an inner cordon, incident command support, casualty handling or logistics. There is also a possibility that such an incident may take place in Radlett or the surrounding areas as local premises have been targeted previously by terrorists, there are several religious targets in the area and the Thameslink Line has already provided a route into London for terrorists carrying explosives.
The Radlett crew are trained to a higher standard than that required by the Service and have responded to and dealt successfully with environmental incidents on many occasions. Removal of this prevention and intervention resource will increase the risk of environmental disaster in the area particularly in light of predicted climate change and Radlett’s high flood risk status.
This document together with the Station Business Plan and Risk Management Plan serve as evidence that Radlett Fire Station is well managed and as such, able to work to and consistently achieve National Fire & Rescue Service objectives.
The proposed closure of Radlett Fire Station is not an isolated case nationally, nor within Hertfordshire and the cumulative effect of closing fire stations will clearly have a significantly adverse effect upon the Fire and Rescue Service Directorate’s ability to achieve its objectives.
The Threat to Local Objectives
Since April 2003 the ODPM has required every Fire and Rescue Authority to produce a local IRMP that sets out the authority's strategy, in collaboration with other agencies, for:
1 Reducing the number and severity of fires, road traffic accidents and other emergency incidents occurring in the area for which it is responsible;
2 Reducing the severity of injuries in fires, road traffic accidents and other emergency incidents;
3 Reducing the commercial, economic and social impact of fires and other emergency incidents;
4 Safeguarding the environment and heritage (both built and natural); and
5 Providing value for money.
The Radlett Fire Crew is responsible for the achievement of these objectives within the station ground and surrounding areas as set out within the St Albans and Hertsmere Area Action Plan. These objectives are presently achieved through adopting the Station Business Plan to ensure we work as a professional team, dedicated to reducing risk within our community by providing a high quality prevention, protection and intervention service.
We maintain, through our personal development program, our ability to fully engage with our community to pass on quality fire prevention & protection advice at every opportunity. We investigate and report the cause of all incidents that we attend and we actively seek to prevent reoccurrence of these or similar incidents.
We recognise that road traffic collisions are the greatest contributor to loss of life in our community and, within our new statutory rights, we intend to develop a station management strategy for this risk that will be included in next year’s business plan.
We continue to target domestic dwellings as the greatest risk area for fire deaths & injuries, working towards our five-year target of smoke detectors in every home in our administrative area by 2007. Current projections are for a 2006 completion of this target.
Through training and development we continue to provide an intervention capability incorporating those skills required to limit the severity of the incidents we attend and we will continue to identify and assess new risks within our community and define management approaches to reduce these risks.
We seek to improve the value of our partnerships with those premises that present a higher risk to life within our community and through our duties under 7.2 d and 8.2 d of the FRS Act we maintain our preparedness for major incidents in our area.
The Threat to Local Objectives (continued)
We are prepared to make a first assessment of any terrorist incident we may be called to, are mindful of potential targets in our area and have made discrete assessments of these premises and contingency plans for likely incidents.
We continue to provide the prompt attendance of a well trained, managed and equipped fire and rescue capability at the incidents we are called too. This capability ensures that, by timely and effective action, the consequences of the incidents we attend are reduced as far as practicable, following our arrival.
As far as practicable, we reduce the impact on the environment of the incidents we attend & we maintain our capability to mitigate the effects of floodings. We intend to enhance our prevention role for environmental incidents by enhancing our partnerships with other stakeholders such as the Environment Agency and local water authorities.
We continue to identify, assess and define contingency approaches to manage the risk associated with National Heritage sites within the Radlett area.
By adopting the Retained Duty System, the cost of the station to council taxpayers is at the minimum for the provision of a well trained, managed and equipped Fire and Rescue capability. We will maintain this value and where possible seek to reduce the cost to the public where such savings will not adversely affect our capability.
We will continue to seek support for the investment of £ 300 000 to remodel the building into a Community Safety Centre with a view to opening for the centenary of Radlett Fire Station in 2007.
Removal of the crew from Radlett will see all of the above work cease and the management of prevention, protection and intervention resources for the area will no longer be planned or conducted at a local level.
Where intervention resources are called upon from other areas to replace the Radlett Fire Crew, attendance times will increase significantly from those at present due to increases in travelling times and a reduction in local knowledge. It is likely that the proposed 10 and 13-minute attendance times will not be met for house fires in the Radlett area.
It is proposed that a Community Safety Task Force will carry out prevention and protection work for the area. This team of 12 will be required to cover the entire county, severely limiting the level of resources directed at Radlett and the surrounding areas. It is logical to assume that the number and severity of incidents in the area will increase as a result of this proposal.
Risk Management Planning
The underlying theme to achieving Fire & Rescue Service objectives is the reduction of risk. The risk of fires, accidents and other emergencies must be managed, as part of a logical plan that may then be integrated with those for the surrounding areas to ensure that risks to the community are minimised as far as is reasonably practicable within the remit of fire and rescue.
A comprehensive plan would be expected to use the following method of risk management. This method has been developed in the aeronautical industry and subsequently expanded to all sectors and adopted by accredited health & safety bodies:
1. Identification of risks
2. Assessment of risks
3. Prioritisation of risk
4. Avoidance and mitigation approaches
5. Contingency approaches
6. Status and reporting approaches
7. Risk management organisation
8. Financing risk management approach
This methodology will ensure a comprehensive risk management plan, which may be updated and reviewed as the dynamics of the community change.
Identification of risks
Fire Service Emergency Cover (FSEC) software is utilized to carry out a detailed assessment of the risks to life, property, the environment and the nation’s heritage. This is based on historical records wherever possible and takes into account the impact of fire safety measures. It also incorporates a definition of the response requirements derived from an identification of the tasks that need to be undertaken when dealing with an incident and the requirement for personnel and equipment. Risks are assessed by reference to the following types of incident:
a Dwellings – Fires in homes including detached, semi-detached, terraced, flats
b Other Buildings – Fires in larger buildings such as schools, places of worship hospitals, shops and hotels.
c Special Services - Non-fire incidents such as road traffic collisions, chemical spillages, floodings and animal rescues.
d Major Incidents – With the potential for high loss of life and community disruption.
Risk Management Planning (continued)
Local information is loaded onto the software in relation to:
1 County boundaries
2 Fire station locations
3 Incident data for the area for the last three years and
4 Valuation Office data for ‘other buildings’.
For the software to run comprehensively the ‘historic’ data must be backed up with actual risk assessment data for the area. This would take the form of information relating to hazardous sites on roadways, process & equipment risks within commercial properties, likely terrorist targets, national heritage sites and risks to the environment.
To provide this information for the Radlett area would mean the assessment of every premises and location and then collation of the results for inclusion in the FSEC software. A risk management plan can then be developed, addressing the risks in the area in priority order. This full process has never been undertaken. As a result of this exclusion, the IRMP relies entirely on the number of incidents occurring in the past without reference to their severity or prediction of possible emergency scenarios.
Had such an incomplete assessment been carried out in 1995, it would have failed to predict a major rail crash incident in the county. There were three in the following decade, which the Service had prepared for by obtaining local knowledge.
The Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue Authority Integrated Risk Management Plan, which supports this proposal, does not include a comprehensive assessment of Radlett or any other area. The exclusion of current local data would suggest that the risk assessment may be significantly incorrect and, as such, must be verified prior to use for any risk management planning process. Until this is achieved, we cannot confidently move to the next stage of the risk management methodology.
A full assessment could be made, by developing the work carried out to date by the Radlett crew, for a completion date of 30th September 2006. This assessment may then be utilised within a Radlett Risk Management Plan to be adopted for 1st April 2007. This plan may then be integrated into the county IRMP.
It is the vision of the Radlett crew that our risk management plan will be recognised as a document that demonstrates best practice for community risk management. This plan will be fully comprehensive and based upon realistic data from several sources which takes account of the likely frequency and consequences of incurring each risk, and the cumulative combinations of risks in major incident scenarios.
Cost Benefit Analysis
The economic and social justification for Radlett Fire Station has been sound since its conception. The benefits to the Community are considerable and it will continue to prove a sound economic investment for the future. This statement is evidenced as follows:
The proposal estimates the cost of Radlett Fire Station salaries and on-costs as £90 000 pa dependent on level of activity and excluding redundancy costs in Year 1. This figure is a non-specific average; the true cost is more likely in the region of £ 120 000 pa at present.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, utilising Department for Transport methodology, gives an average value of prevention for a single fatal fire casualty at a figure of £ 1 312 260.
The national fire fatality rate is defined as the number of deaths per million head of population, abbreviated henceforth to pmp. During the last decade the national fatality rate peaked at 13 pmp in 1995. Since then there has been a downward trend and in 2002 it was at its lowest, at 9 pmp. This latest year saw an increase to 10 pmp.
Radlett has a population of approximately 10000, or 0.01 million, therefore it can be calculated that the area may expect one fire death every ten years at a financial loss to the community of £ 131 226 per annum. This figure is remarkably close to the required break-even point for running the station and has been achieved consistently for 98 years, as there has never been a fire death in the Radlett area.
The rate of fire casualties per year is calculated by the ODPM as 209.5 pmp, which predicts two casualties at a combined loss of £294 920 to the community of Radlett each year. Where we prevent fire injuries or protect against them, the investment in the station shows this figure as an annual profit. Any further economic saving for the community achieved by the station should also be considered as profitable.
Each fire or other incident that is averted through the prevention work of the crew must be recognised as a saving to the community. Protection work such as the fitting of smoke detectors will inevitably lead to reductions in the severity of fire injuries and damage levels due to early warning. Our intervention capability ensures that the consequences of the incidents we attend are reduced as far as practicable, further reducing the financial impact upon the community due to early intervention.
By continuing to develop the business plan and in particular, the risk management plan and its road traffic collision element, we believe that we can continue to demonstrate, by use of ODPM economic costing methodology, increasing levels of financial benefits to our community, clearly justifying (at least) the existing level of Council expenditure.
Conclusions
The ultimate objective of Radlett Fire Station is to improve the safety of the community and consequently assists with the sustainability and prosperity of the area. The proposed closure requires the withdrawal of the station, equipment and crew from the work currently undertaken within the local area to meet this objective.
The proposed closure of Radlett Fire Station is not an isolated case nationally, nor within Hertfordshire and the cumulative effect of these closures will clearly have a significantly adverse effect upon the Fire and Rescue Service’s ability to achieve its objectives.
The Radlett Fire Crew is responsible for the achievement of these objectives at a local level. It is proposed that a Community Safety Task Force will carry out prevention and protection work for the area. It is logical to assume that the number and severity of incidents in the area will increase as a result of this proposal to significantly reduce Fire and Rescue Service resources in the area.
The Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue Authority Integrated Risk Management Plan, which supports this proposal, does not include a comprehensive assessment of the Radlett area. The exclusion of current local data would suggest that the risk assessment used by the Chief Fire Officer may be significantly incorrect and, as such, must be verified prior to implementing closure of the station.
The economic and social justification for Radlett Fire Station has been sound since its conception. The benefits to the Community are considerable and it will continue to prove a sound economic investment for the future.
It can be seen that the break-even point is achieved through the prevention of fire deaths and a profit shown by preventing injuries in fires. Any further economic saving for the community achieved by the station should also be considered as profitable. Each fire or other incident that is averted through the prevention work of the crew must be recognised as a saving to the community. Protection work such as the fitting of smoke detectors will inevitably lead to reductions in the severity of fire injuries and damage levels. Our intervention capability ensures that the consequences of the incidents we attend are reduced as far as practicable, further reducing the financial impact upon the community.
The ODPM recognises this as fact and, as such, has tasked the Office of National Statistics to quantify the value of the work undertaken by Fire Stations.
We are an efficient, effective and economical Fire & Rescue Service resource, crewed by local people for the last 100 years. Although the goodwill attached to this local institution is difficult to quantify, we believe it to be considerable and will gauge this by closely monitoring local responses to the County Council consultation on this proposal
Recommendations
We recommend that the proposal to close Radlett Fire Station be withdrawn because the station will continue to demonstrate increasing levels of financial and social benefits to our community.
By continuing to develop the station business plan, the Service could use Radlett as a centre for best practice for local business planning. By developing local risk management and financial plans for the Station, a comprehensive cost benefit analysis would be developed to firmly evidence the economic justification for the Station.
Suggested timescales for this development are as follows:
Project
Commence
Complete
Conduct Area Risk Assessment
1st April 2006
30th September 2006
Produce Area Risk Management Plan
1st October 2006
1st April 2007
Produce Station Financial Plan
1st April 2006
1st April 2007
We will continue to seek support for the investment of £ 300 000 to remodel the building into a Community Safety Centre with a view to opening for the centenary of Radlett Fire Station in 2007. It is our intention that the capital for this project will be raised through a spread of investment from local stakeholder donation and Borough, County and National contributions from Governmental stakeholders, thus spreading any financial risk.
Our vision for Radlett Fire Station is one of an effective, efficient and economical Community Safety Centre, opened in 2007 working to a sound business plan that improves the safety of our community.
We will have sound plans, which reflect our objectives and we will be able to clearly evidence our achievement of them. By working to these plans, we will ensure that, as far as is reasonably practicable, we continually reduce the risks to the community of Radlett and the surrounding areas.
We evidence this commitment with the performance of Radlett Fire Crews for 100 years and we request that this proposal be reversed as soon as possible so that we may continue our duties without further threat of redundancy.
Thank You
Radlett Fire Station Personnel
References
Office of The Deputy Prime Minister
q www.odpm.gov.uk
q Fire & Rescue Services Act 2004
q Fire & Rescue Service National Framework 2005 - 2006
q Fire Statistics, United Kingdom, 2003
q The Economic Cost of Fire: estimates for 2003
q The economic cost of fire (2001)
q Measurement of Output and Productivity of the Fire and Rescue Service
Audit Commission
q www.audit-commission.gov.uk
q Fire and Rescue Comprehensive Performance Assessment, Hertfordshire Fire Authority CPA Report July 2005
q Fire and Rescue Comprehensive Performance Assessment, Hertfordshire Fire Authority CPA Pilot discussion draft Report 14 October 2004
q Hertfordshire County Council Fire Authority Fire Service Pay and Conditions Agreement – Verification Work 10th March 2004
Hertfordshire County Council
q www.hertsdirect.gov.uk
q Fire and Rescue Comprehensive Performance Assessment, Hertfordshire Fire Authority Self-Assessment Return 17th August 2004
q Local Transport Plan 2005
Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue Service:
q http://www.hertsdirect.org/yrccouncil/hcc/fire/
q Integrated Risk Management Plan 2005/06
q Integrated Risk Management Plan 2004/05
q St Albans and Hertsmere Action Plan 2004/05
Department for Transport
q Valuation of the Benefits of Prevention of Road Accidents and Casualties, December 2004.
References (continued)
Websites
q www.accel-team.com
q www.aldenham.gov.uk
q www.checkmyfile.com
q www.direct.gov.uk
q www.fbu.org.uk
q www.historyandpolicy.org
q www.lga.gov.uk
q www.nationmaster.com
q www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk
q www.radlettcentre.co.uk
q www.riskinstitute.org
q www.shrm.org
q www.thameslink.co.uk
q www.upmystreet.com
Articles
q Ahead of Time, Rupert Gilbey, FEJ & FP, August 2005
q Cover Notes, Kirsty Bosley, FEJ & FP, August 2005
q Economic Forces, editorial, FEJ & FP, July 2005
Integrated Risk Management Plans
q Cambridgeshire Fire & Rescue Authority 2004 - 2005
q Cheshire Fire & Rescue Authority 2004 - 2005
q Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority 2004 - 2005
q London Safety Plan 2005 - 2008
q Merseyside Fire & Rescue Authority 2004 – 2005
q Northern Ireland Fire Authority 2004 - 2005
q Northern Ireland Fire Authority Draft 2005-2006
q Surrey Fire Authority 2005 - 2006
Other Documents
q European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
q Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
q The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
q Employment Relations Act 2004
q Employment Rights Act 1996
Acknowledgement
We wish to take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge the commitment of those people who have served on the Fire Crew at Radlett since 1905. These people have our utmost respect, particularly for those times in the past when emergencies, and the environments they have occurred in, have proven both physically and mentally demanding.
We also wish to express gratitude to the families and local employers of past crewmembers for their support and understanding of the 24hr on call system.
At this very difficult time, we wish to acknowledge the help and support that we have received from the Save Radlett Fire Station Action Group and the wider community.
We acknowledge the difficult decision that our councillors will take in February and are confident in their ability to make the right choice for us all.
Background
Fire cover started in Radlett when Aldenham Parish Council established a Fire Brigade in 1905 with the first station completed in 1907. The village has been served without a break by a fire service made up wholly of local residents, giving 24hr cover to the village, 365 days of the year to the present day.
A group of local residents and business owners formed Radlett Fire Brigade and built the first station, housing a horse drawn steam pump, using funds raised locally. In October 1927, a small cricket bat was auctioned to raise funds for the purchase of Radlett’s first motorised appliance, a Dennis fire engine that was named ‘Little Bat’.
The crew attended calls to properties in the developing village, extinguishing fires in chimneys, surrounding fields and regularly dealing with the results of sparks from the trains passing through the village. The main method of risk control employed up until World War 2 was intervention with the emphasis on fire hazards.
At the outbreak of World War 2, most of the crew at the time were drafted to fight, so a reserve crew in the home guard vein, under the direction of the National Fire Service, gave fire cover to the area, most notably protecting the Handley-Page Aircraft Company.
The post war era saw advances in training & equipment and the restructuring of the fire service nationally resulted in the 1947 Fire Services Act and Hertfordshire County Council became the Fire Authority. Hertfordshire Fire Brigade was formed in 1948 and Radlett was designated as Station 13. A new station was built in 1968, which has served the area to the present day.
Intervention at road traffic collisions became commonplace throughout the sixties and, in the seventies, new legislation and subsequent advancement in fire prevention began to take place and in 1989 Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue Service was created to reflect the widened role in public safety. The nineties saw a move toward preventative community fire safety activity emerge. As a result the Radlett crew began installing smoke detectors, targeting the young and the elderly at community talks and giving fire safety advice in the area at schools, community groups, carnivals, fetes and other local events.
More recently, the Fire & Rescue Services Act 2004 came into being and the subsequent Fire and Rescue Service Framework has set out the objectives for Fire Authorities to achieve through an Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP). The ultimate objective is to improve the safety of communities, and consequently make them more sustainable and prosperous. In 2005 Radlett Fire Station adopted a business plan to ensure achievement of these objectives at a local level.
The Threat to National Objectives
The key objective for the government’s Fire and Rescue Service Directorate is to modernise the Fire and Rescue Service in England, in line with the June 2003 White Paper and the National Framework.
The Directorate is striving to achieve a Service which:
1. Is proactive in preventing fires and other risks, rather than only reacting to fires
2. Acts in support of the Government's wider agenda of social inclusion, neighbourhood renewal and crime reduction
3. Has effective institutions that support its role
4. Is well-managed and effective
5. Is committed to developing and adapting to changing circumstances, including the threat of terrorism and environmental disaster.
The closure of Radlett Station may be expected to have the following effect upon these national objectives:
The current proactive risk prevention resources in the area (personnel, station, appliance and equipment) will be removed completely. Radlett fire crews have carried out local community fire safety initiatives for 98 years with the low incidence of fire in the area evidencing the benefits of this vital work. We have also provided an extremely effective fire and rescue capability during this time. It is proposed that a Community Safety Task Force will conduct this work. This team will have other duties, other areas to cover and will not provide an intervention capability.
A Retained Fire Station provides a service to the local community, delivering a proactive approach to safety issues with an emphasis on fire safety. The Station provides a focal point for community safety and welfare for the local community and organisations; helping to make the community safer for all.This service is provided by local people, the removal of which threatens social inclusion, as the local community safety centre is removed and 13 local people are made redundant. These are jobs that will no longer exist for future generations of Radlett residents.
The ODPM neighbourhood renewal initiative advocates working with local agencies to improve and link their services at a local neighbourhood level. This proposal threatens neighbourhood renewal in the Radlett area, as it requires the scrapping of plans to remodel the building into a Community Safety Centre, a proposal first raised in July 2004. Contact with and between community groups facilitated by local personnel will cease.
The Threat to National Objectives (continued).
It is unlikely that the Radlett Crime Reduction Group will have a regular local fire service representative and, as such, the link with this crime reduction partnership may be broken. The involvement of local firefighters in RCRG initiatives will cease.
The closure of Radlett Fire Station comes one year short of it’s centenary as an effective institution for community safety. In that time there has never been a fire death in the village despite a national average that projects one fatality in every ten-year period for a town of this size. There is likely to be a significant impact should a death occur following closure of the station, which may result in a civil action being filed.
The current county response to the threat of terrorism is based on government principles and entails the Incident Response Unit accompanied by 8 Hertfordshire fire engines. The Radlett crew’s contribution in the event of a terrorist incident north of the River Thames is at present to cover the workload stations supplying these fire engines. There is a possibility that Radlett may be required at such an incident to carry out a specialist role such as maintaining an inner cordon, incident command support, casualty handling or logistics. There is also a possibility that such an incident may take place in Radlett or the surrounding areas as local premises have been targeted previously by terrorists, there are several religious targets in the area and the Thameslink Line has already provided a route into London for terrorists carrying explosives.
The Radlett crew are trained to a higher standard than that required by the Service and have responded to and dealt successfully with environmental incidents on many occasions. Removal of this prevention and intervention resource will increase the risk of environmental disaster in the area particularly in light of predicted climate change and Radlett’s high flood risk status.
This document together with the Station Business Plan and Risk Management Plan serve as evidence that Radlett Fire Station is well managed and as such, able to work to and consistently achieve National Fire & Rescue Service objectives.
The proposed closure of Radlett Fire Station is not an isolated case nationally, nor within Hertfordshire and the cumulative effect of closing fire stations will clearly have a significantly adverse effect upon the Fire and Rescue Service Directorate’s ability to achieve its objectives.
The Threat to Local Objectives
Since April 2003 the ODPM has required every Fire and Rescue Authority to produce a local IRMP that sets out the authority's strategy, in collaboration with other agencies, for:
1 Reducing the number and severity of fires, road traffic accidents and other emergency incidents occurring in the area for which it is responsible;
2 Reducing the severity of injuries in fires, road traffic accidents and other emergency incidents;
3 Reducing the commercial, economic and social impact of fires and other emergency incidents;
4 Safeguarding the environment and heritage (both built and natural); and
5 Providing value for money.
The Radlett Fire Crew is responsible for the achievement of these objectives within the station ground and surrounding areas as set out within the St Albans and Hertsmere Area Action Plan. These objectives are presently achieved through adopting the Station Business Plan to ensure we work as a professional team, dedicated to reducing risk within our community by providing a high quality prevention, protection and intervention service.
We maintain, through our personal development program, our ability to fully engage with our community to pass on quality fire prevention & protection advice at every opportunity. We investigate and report the cause of all incidents that we attend and we actively seek to prevent reoccurrence of these or similar incidents.
We recognise that road traffic collisions are the greatest contributor to loss of life in our community and, within our new statutory rights, we intend to develop a station management strategy for this risk that will be included in next year’s business plan.
We continue to target domestic dwellings as the greatest risk area for fire deaths & injuries, working towards our five-year target of smoke detectors in every home in our administrative area by 2007. Current projections are for a 2006 completion of this target.
Through training and development we continue to provide an intervention capability incorporating those skills required to limit the severity of the incidents we attend and we will continue to identify and assess new risks within our community and define management approaches to reduce these risks.
We seek to improve the value of our partnerships with those premises that present a higher risk to life within our community and through our duties under 7.2 d and 8.2 d of the FRS Act we maintain our preparedness for major incidents in our area.
The Threat to Local Objectives (continued)
We are prepared to make a first assessment of any terrorist incident we may be called to, are mindful of potential targets in our area and have made discrete assessments of these premises and contingency plans for likely incidents.
We continue to provide the prompt attendance of a well trained, managed and equipped fire and rescue capability at the incidents we are called too. This capability ensures that, by timely and effective action, the consequences of the incidents we attend are reduced as far as practicable, following our arrival.
As far as practicable, we reduce the impact on the environment of the incidents we attend & we maintain our capability to mitigate the effects of floodings. We intend to enhance our prevention role for environmental incidents by enhancing our partnerships with other stakeholders such as the Environment Agency and local water authorities.
We continue to identify, assess and define contingency approaches to manage the risk associated with National Heritage sites within the Radlett area.
By adopting the Retained Duty System, the cost of the station to council taxpayers is at the minimum for the provision of a well trained, managed and equipped Fire and Rescue capability. We will maintain this value and where possible seek to reduce the cost to the public where such savings will not adversely affect our capability.
We will continue to seek support for the investment of £ 300 000 to remodel the building into a Community Safety Centre with a view to opening for the centenary of Radlett Fire Station in 2007.
Removal of the crew from Radlett will see all of the above work cease and the management of prevention, protection and intervention resources for the area will no longer be planned or conducted at a local level.
Where intervention resources are called upon from other areas to replace the Radlett Fire Crew, attendance times will increase significantly from those at present due to increases in travelling times and a reduction in local knowledge. It is likely that the proposed 10 and 13-minute attendance times will not be met for house fires in the Radlett area.
It is proposed that a Community Safety Task Force will carry out prevention and protection work for the area. This team of 12 will be required to cover the entire county, severely limiting the level of resources directed at Radlett and the surrounding areas. It is logical to assume that the number and severity of incidents in the area will increase as a result of this proposal.
Risk Management Planning
The underlying theme to achieving Fire & Rescue Service objectives is the reduction of risk. The risk of fires, accidents and other emergencies must be managed, as part of a logical plan that may then be integrated with those for the surrounding areas to ensure that risks to the community are minimised as far as is reasonably practicable within the remit of fire and rescue.
A comprehensive plan would be expected to use the following method of risk management. This method has been developed in the aeronautical industry and subsequently expanded to all sectors and adopted by accredited health & safety bodies:
1. Identification of risks
2. Assessment of risks
3. Prioritisation of risk
4. Avoidance and mitigation approaches
5. Contingency approaches
6. Status and reporting approaches
7. Risk management organisation
8. Financing risk management approach
This methodology will ensure a comprehensive risk management plan, which may be updated and reviewed as the dynamics of the community change.
Identification of risks
Fire Service Emergency Cover (FSEC) software is utilized to carry out a detailed assessment of the risks to life, property, the environment and the nation’s heritage. This is based on historical records wherever possible and takes into account the impact of fire safety measures. It also incorporates a definition of the response requirements derived from an identification of the tasks that need to be undertaken when dealing with an incident and the requirement for personnel and equipment. Risks are assessed by reference to the following types of incident:
a Dwellings – Fires in homes including detached, semi-detached, terraced, flats
b Other Buildings – Fires in larger buildings such as schools, places of worship hospitals, shops and hotels.
c Special Services - Non-fire incidents such as road traffic collisions, chemical spillages, floodings and animal rescues.
d Major Incidents – With the potential for high loss of life and community disruption.
Risk Management Planning (continued)
Local information is loaded onto the software in relation to:
1 County boundaries
2 Fire station locations
3 Incident data for the area for the last three years and
4 Valuation Office data for ‘other buildings’.
For the software to run comprehensively the ‘historic’ data must be backed up with actual risk assessment data for the area. This would take the form of information relating to hazardous sites on roadways, process & equipment risks within commercial properties, likely terrorist targets, national heritage sites and risks to the environment.
To provide this information for the Radlett area would mean the assessment of every premises and location and then collation of the results for inclusion in the FSEC software. A risk management plan can then be developed, addressing the risks in the area in priority order. This full process has never been undertaken. As a result of this exclusion, the IRMP relies entirely on the number of incidents occurring in the past without reference to their severity or prediction of possible emergency scenarios.
Had such an incomplete assessment been carried out in 1995, it would have failed to predict a major rail crash incident in the county. There were three in the following decade, which the Service had prepared for by obtaining local knowledge.
The Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue Authority Integrated Risk Management Plan, which supports this proposal, does not include a comprehensive assessment of Radlett or any other area. The exclusion of current local data would suggest that the risk assessment may be significantly incorrect and, as such, must be verified prior to use for any risk management planning process. Until this is achieved, we cannot confidently move to the next stage of the risk management methodology.
A full assessment could be made, by developing the work carried out to date by the Radlett crew, for a completion date of 30th September 2006. This assessment may then be utilised within a Radlett Risk Management Plan to be adopted for 1st April 2007. This plan may then be integrated into the county IRMP.
It is the vision of the Radlett crew that our risk management plan will be recognised as a document that demonstrates best practice for community risk management. This plan will be fully comprehensive and based upon realistic data from several sources which takes account of the likely frequency and consequences of incurring each risk, and the cumulative combinations of risks in major incident scenarios.
Cost Benefit Analysis
The economic and social justification for Radlett Fire Station has been sound since its conception. The benefits to the Community are considerable and it will continue to prove a sound economic investment for the future. This statement is evidenced as follows:
The proposal estimates the cost of Radlett Fire Station salaries and on-costs as £90 000 pa dependent on level of activity and excluding redundancy costs in Year 1. This figure is a non-specific average; the true cost is more likely in the region of £ 120 000 pa at present.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, utilising Department for Transport methodology, gives an average value of prevention for a single fatal fire casualty at a figure of £ 1 312 260.
The national fire fatality rate is defined as the number of deaths per million head of population, abbreviated henceforth to pmp. During the last decade the national fatality rate peaked at 13 pmp in 1995. Since then there has been a downward trend and in 2002 it was at its lowest, at 9 pmp. This latest year saw an increase to 10 pmp.
Radlett has a population of approximately 10000, or 0.01 million, therefore it can be calculated that the area may expect one fire death every ten years at a financial loss to the community of £ 131 226 per annum. This figure is remarkably close to the required break-even point for running the station and has been achieved consistently for 98 years, as there has never been a fire death in the Radlett area.
The rate of fire casualties per year is calculated by the ODPM as 209.5 pmp, which predicts two casualties at a combined loss of £294 920 to the community of Radlett each year. Where we prevent fire injuries or protect against them, the investment in the station shows this figure as an annual profit. Any further economic saving for the community achieved by the station should also be considered as profitable.
Each fire or other incident that is averted through the prevention work of the crew must be recognised as a saving to the community. Protection work such as the fitting of smoke detectors will inevitably lead to reductions in the severity of fire injuries and damage levels due to early warning. Our intervention capability ensures that the consequences of the incidents we attend are reduced as far as practicable, further reducing the financial impact upon the community due to early intervention.
By continuing to develop the business plan and in particular, the risk management plan and its road traffic collision element, we believe that we can continue to demonstrate, by use of ODPM economic costing methodology, increasing levels of financial benefits to our community, clearly justifying (at least) the existing level of Council expenditure.
Conclusions
The ultimate objective of Radlett Fire Station is to improve the safety of the community and consequently assists with the sustainability and prosperity of the area. The proposed closure requires the withdrawal of the station, equipment and crew from the work currently undertaken within the local area to meet this objective.
The proposed closure of Radlett Fire Station is not an isolated case nationally, nor within Hertfordshire and the cumulative effect of these closures will clearly have a significantly adverse effect upon the Fire and Rescue Service’s ability to achieve its objectives.
The Radlett Fire Crew is responsible for the achievement of these objectives at a local level. It is proposed that a Community Safety Task Force will carry out prevention and protection work for the area. It is logical to assume that the number and severity of incidents in the area will increase as a result of this proposal to significantly reduce Fire and Rescue Service resources in the area.
The Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue Authority Integrated Risk Management Plan, which supports this proposal, does not include a comprehensive assessment of the Radlett area. The exclusion of current local data would suggest that the risk assessment used by the Chief Fire Officer may be significantly incorrect and, as such, must be verified prior to implementing closure of the station.
The economic and social justification for Radlett Fire Station has been sound since its conception. The benefits to the Community are considerable and it will continue to prove a sound economic investment for the future.
It can be seen that the break-even point is achieved through the prevention of fire deaths and a profit shown by preventing injuries in fires. Any further economic saving for the community achieved by the station should also be considered as profitable. Each fire or other incident that is averted through the prevention work of the crew must be recognised as a saving to the community. Protection work such as the fitting of smoke detectors will inevitably lead to reductions in the severity of fire injuries and damage levels. Our intervention capability ensures that the consequences of the incidents we attend are reduced as far as practicable, further reducing the financial impact upon the community.
The ODPM recognises this as fact and, as such, has tasked the Office of National Statistics to quantify the value of the work undertaken by Fire Stations.
We are an efficient, effective and economical Fire & Rescue Service resource, crewed by local people for the last 100 years. Although the goodwill attached to this local institution is difficult to quantify, we believe it to be considerable and will gauge this by closely monitoring local responses to the County Council consultation on this proposal
Recommendations
We recommend that the proposal to close Radlett Fire Station be withdrawn because the station will continue to demonstrate increasing levels of financial and social benefits to our community.
By continuing to develop the station business plan, the Service could use Radlett as a centre for best practice for local business planning. By developing local risk management and financial plans for the Station, a comprehensive cost benefit analysis would be developed to firmly evidence the economic justification for the Station.
Suggested timescales for this development are as follows:
Project
Commence
Complete
Conduct Area Risk Assessment
1st April 2006
30th September 2006
Produce Area Risk Management Plan
1st October 2006
1st April 2007
Produce Station Financial Plan
1st April 2006
1st April 2007
We will continue to seek support for the investment of £ 300 000 to remodel the building into a Community Safety Centre with a view to opening for the centenary of Radlett Fire Station in 2007. It is our intention that the capital for this project will be raised through a spread of investment from local stakeholder donation and Borough, County and National contributions from Governmental stakeholders, thus spreading any financial risk.
Our vision for Radlett Fire Station is one of an effective, efficient and economical Community Safety Centre, opened in 2007 working to a sound business plan that improves the safety of our community.
We will have sound plans, which reflect our objectives and we will be able to clearly evidence our achievement of them. By working to these plans, we will ensure that, as far as is reasonably practicable, we continually reduce the risks to the community of Radlett and the surrounding areas.
We evidence this commitment with the performance of Radlett Fire Crews for 100 years and we request that this proposal be reversed as soon as possible so that we may continue our duties without further threat of redundancy.
Thank You
Radlett Fire Station Personnel
References
Office of The Deputy Prime Minister
q www.odpm.gov.uk
q Fire & Rescue Services Act 2004
q Fire & Rescue Service National Framework 2005 - 2006
q Fire Statistics, United Kingdom, 2003
q The Economic Cost of Fire: estimates for 2003
q The economic cost of fire (2001)
q Measurement of Output and Productivity of the Fire and Rescue Service
Audit Commission
q www.audit-commission.gov.uk
q Fire and Rescue Comprehensive Performance Assessment, Hertfordshire Fire Authority CPA Report July 2005
q Fire and Rescue Comprehensive Performance Assessment, Hertfordshire Fire Authority CPA Pilot discussion draft Report 14 October 2004
q Hertfordshire County Council Fire Authority Fire Service Pay and Conditions Agreement – Verification Work 10th March 2004
Hertfordshire County Council
q www.hertsdirect.gov.uk
q Fire and Rescue Comprehensive Performance Assessment, Hertfordshire Fire Authority Self-Assessment Return 17th August 2004
q Local Transport Plan 2005
Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue Service:
q http://www.hertsdirect.org/yrccouncil/hcc/fire/
q Integrated Risk Management Plan 2005/06
q Integrated Risk Management Plan 2004/05
q St Albans and Hertsmere Action Plan 2004/05
Department for Transport
q Valuation of the Benefits of Prevention of Road Accidents and Casualties, December 2004.
References (continued)
Websites
q www.accel-team.com
q www.aldenham.gov.uk
q www.checkmyfile.com
q www.direct.gov.uk
q www.fbu.org.uk
q www.historyandpolicy.org
q www.lga.gov.uk
q www.nationmaster.com
q www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk
q www.radlettcentre.co.uk
q www.riskinstitute.org
q www.shrm.org
q www.thameslink.co.uk
q www.upmystreet.com
Articles
q Ahead of Time, Rupert Gilbey, FEJ & FP, August 2005
q Cover Notes, Kirsty Bosley, FEJ & FP, August 2005
q Economic Forces, editorial, FEJ & FP, July 2005
Integrated Risk Management Plans
q Cambridgeshire Fire & Rescue Authority 2004 - 2005
q Cheshire Fire & Rescue Authority 2004 - 2005
q Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority 2004 - 2005
q London Safety Plan 2005 - 2008
q Merseyside Fire & Rescue Authority 2004 – 2005
q Northern Ireland Fire Authority 2004 - 2005
q Northern Ireland Fire Authority Draft 2005-2006
q Surrey Fire Authority 2005 - 2006
Other Documents
q European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
q Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
q The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
q Employment Relations Act 2004
q Employment Rights Act 1996
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