The Fire and Rescue Services Act

Key Dates.
The Act received Royal Assent on July 22nd 2004 and came into force on 1st October 2004

Overview.
The first significant change has been seen on an administration front, with around 59 Fire Brigades being regionalised and reduced to 29 Fire and Rescue Authorities.

Each Authority has published an integrated risk management plan (IRMP) that outlines their objectives for the future, reflecting their political aims as well as providing guidelines on how the will manage the specific risks in their area.

The new framework requires each Fire Authority to work with the community, to identify risks within the community and develop a plan to minimise the risk. This is aimed at reducing the commercial, economic and social impact of fires and other emergency incidents.

The Government and Fire Rescue Services recognise that they cannot achieve their aims alone and the community is expected to play its part in minimising the risks and reducing the level of unwanted alarms. It is therefore inevitable that this will lead to increased pressure on the owner-occupier to take the issues of Risk Management seriously as well as controlling the level of false or unwanted alarms.

What it will mean to owners and occupiers.
The key messages for owner-occupier within each IRMP are:

  • The removal of the requirement on the Fire and Rescue Services to issue Fire Certificates. This may be seen as good news, however this means that the responsibility for complying with legislation, standards and building regulations is now clearly in the hands of the owner-occupier or one of the employees.

  • The response to callouts will include some form of measure of false alarm levels that will affect call out levels and response time. Many authorities are adopting a guideline published by the chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) on false alarm management, but each IRMP should be consulted for the approach to the management of false and unwanted alarms within this territory.