Agenda item

Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Technical Response Unit Refresh

(To receive a report on behalf of the Chief Fire Officer which seeks approval for the proposed changes and investment to Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service)

Decision:

1.    That the operational changes specified in Table 1 of the report be approved;

 

2.    That the capital scheme business case for the expenditure of the capital budget of £1.218m on replacement vehicles, equipment and other assets in accordance with the Technical Response Units Capital Plan at Appendix J to the report, be approved;

 

3.    That the carrying out of a procurement to secure the replacement vehicles, equipment and other assets as described in the Technical Response Units Capital Plan as Appendix J to the report, be approved;

 

4.    That authority be delegated to the Chief Fire Officer, in consultation with the Executive Councillor Fire and Rescue and Cultural Services, to take all decisions and detailed steps necessary to give effect to the above decisions.

Minutes:

A report by the Chief Fire Officer set out the proposed changes and investment in relation to Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue's Technical Response Unit Refresh.  It was reported that Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue (LFR) provided a number of technical response capabilities to assist in delivering its operational response.  However, when responding to emergency situations, LFR sometimes had to attend environments and incidents where the capabilities carried on a fire appliance were not suitable or adequate to resolve the situations and therefore additional capabilities were required to deliver a successful outcome.

 

To ensure that the Service was prepared for its known and future risks an assessment had been conducted on its known risks within the county and had reviewed its operational response to incidents involving these capabilities over a five year period.  The findings had identified that in order to ensure LFR could continue to provide a sustainable response in future, the response model needed to be updated to meet the demand and capital investment was needed in vehicles and investment.

 

Following discussion by the Executive, the following points were noted:

 

·         It was confirmed that this was a four year plan, but there would be an annual review of the risks to ensure that they were still accurate and the capabilities were in the correct locations.  There would be flexibility to move equipment to different locations if necessary.

·         In relation to the water response, it was highlighted that there were many towns around the county that had water courses, but there was no historical data to demonstrate a need for water rescue capabilities in those areas.

·         It was noted that in terms of mobilisation of some of these capabilities, the call out numbers were very low, and it was queried whether there was another solution.   Members were advised that this was the reason for the downgraded proposals, as there was recognition that the demand and risk was not as high.  It was also noted that consultation and discussion had taken place with all neighbouring authorities as well as other category 1 partners.

·         With the proposal to remove the large transport capability from Lincoln North, it was queried whether this was appropriate if it was expected that there would be an increased need for this facility with the opening of the Lincoln eastern Bypass.  Officers advised that they were comfortable with moving this away from Lincoln, as the capability it did have was fairly limited, and could be described as more of a support role.  The proposal set out in the report would provide a more robust and fit for purpose capability.  It was also highlighted that there was the flexibility to move assets around the county if there was an increased need in a particular area.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.    That the operational changes specified in Table 1 of the report be approved;

 

2.    That the capital scheme business case for the expenditure of the capital budget of £1.218m on replacement vehicles, equipment and other assets in accordance with the Technical Response Units Capital Plan at Appendix J to the report, be approved;

 

3.    That the carrying out of a procurement to secure the replacement vehicles, equipment and other assets as described in the Technical Response Units Capital Plan as Appendix J to the report, be approved;

 

4.    That authority be delegated to the Chief Fire Officer, in consultation with the Executive Councillor Fire and Rescue and Cultural Services, to take all decisions and detailed steps necessary to give effect to the above decisions.

Supporting documents:

 

 
 
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