Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service Consultation starts on Service’s future direction. Local people are being asked to have their say on how Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service operates over the next three years. The Service is consulting on its draft Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP), which sets out what resources will be made available in what areas to protect the local community.

The plan focuses on 12 areas where the Service will focus its attention between 2010 and 2013:

* Helping people to stay safe from fire – through education programmes, and by working with other organisations to identify those most at risk and targeting resources.

* Helping people to stay safe on our roads – by continuing our education work with young people, the military and other targeted groups, and working with other organisations.

* Ensuring a high quality response to emergencies – by continuing to provide the highest standards of firefighting and emergency response work.

* Ensuring our emergency response vehicles meet our needs – by reviewing the location of our appliances, and making sure we have the right equipment in the right places.

* Planning for the future – making sure our fire stations are in the right places and ensuring we are able to protect our communities now and in the future.

* Demonstrating community leadership – by working with partners to address anti-social behaviour and reduce incidents such as deliberate fire-setting and hoax calls.

* Protecting the business community – by focusing on areas such as the installation of automatic sprinkler systems, technical fire safety and enforcement.

* Continuing to assess ways we can be more efficient – by exploring options for joint working with partners, we can use our resources more efficiently.

* Responding positively to climate change – flooding and very hot summers have a real impact on our work, so we have to be sure we can respond to emergencies caused by extreme weather conditions.

* Providing resilient duty systems – we need to be sure that we have the right working practices in place to allow our firefighters to achieve a healthy work-life balance while still providing the high level of commitment that is expected by the public.

* Continuing to improve our equality and diversity standards – we need a workforce that represents and reflects our community, while knowing that we can meet the needs of all parts of that community.

* Developing our staff to meet changing risks in the community – ensuring that our training programmes give us the right people in the right place at the right time, with the right skills to provide the service that is required in that location.

The formal consultation period will run for 12 weeks, from Monday 21 September until Friday 11 December. Deputy Chief Fire Officer Simon Routh Jones said: “During this time, we will be presenting the draft plan throughout the Service area, by attending community meetings across Wiltshire and Swindon. We also want to hold focus groups in November, so we are asking people to register as stakeholders.

The draft plan has been developed following intensive staff consultation, which means its direction has come from the people who are already delivering our fire and rescue service within our communities. We now need to know whether what we are proposing is what people want and expect from us.” To comment on the plan and to register as a stakeholder, visit www.wiltsfire.gov.uk

22nd September 2009