A new report has found Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service to be one of the best services in the country.
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service has published its end-of-year performance report, which breaks down the service’s operations from April 2021 to March 2022.
Across the country’s 22 fire authorities, HIWFRS ranked 3rd best for fire containment – specifically to the room a fire breaks out in.
Firefighters have also been proactive in making visits to vulnerable residents, ensuring their homes are safe, and the service’s average response time is still faster than the national average – below 8 minutes for critical incidents.
This came at a time when fire stations helped to administer more than 150,000 COVID-19 vaccines, and as firefighters doubled up as ambulance drivers and first responders.
Deputy Chief Fire Officer Shantha Dickinson has said:
“We are incredibly proud of what the service has achieved over this last year – even with increased staff sickness – improving performance or returning to pre-COVID levels in many areas.
“There was also a significant increase of 29% in the number of safe and well visits we delivered.”
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However, the report did also highlight some areas that require improvement from the fire service. 8 fatalities were recorded between April 2021 and March 2022 across the region, up from 7 the previous year. These fatalities include deaths at road traffic collisions (RTCs) and suicides.
There has also been a reduction in on-call availability, which has been put down to increased staff absences and hiring problems at rural fire stations. Anger was sparked in Bembridge earlier this year when the village’s fire engine failed to turn out to a fatal flat fire just metres down the road.
Not fair comment Bembridge fire station has been without an engine for a long time.
That surely Kate is the problem. For the reason it had no appliance was because no crew were volunteering to man it.
It is being addressed soon I understand.
or retainment of staff is poor? when that poor soul died in Bembridge the first engine on scene was from Shanklin? not good enough in my opinion, where was the engine from Ryde? not a 24hr station! there lies part of the problem!
What about the poor person that lost their life in Bembridge just around the corner from the empty fire station. How does that rank you as one of the best?
1 death over the thousands of people that live on the IOW is still very good, Of course everyone wants to see zero deaths. There is nothing to say even if bembridge was fully maned the outcome would of been any different
The people that inspect probably only get shown the shiny bits. It’s all about waving a pride flag, recruiting from ethnic minorities and other target driven stuff from on high, don’t matter if you can do the job any more, its about the drivel that you spout to match the tick boxes. With all the safety campaigns and self help groups etc that are accessible to anyone feeling suicidal, low or depressed, why dose it fall to a fire and rescue service to tackle it. The f&r, ambulance and police services up and down the country are being used ever more for things that aren’t what they were created for to ease the burden on those that should be.
It was based on Hampshire and IOW fire service,the IOW section would of failed,also says little about rest of country. Fire fighters do an excellent job and could do better if not for poor management and pay/recruitment. No good wasting money on equipment and mainland call center if actually no one to drive the engine etc. Like dust man and front line workers they should get paid more than managers who sit in office and never been a fire fighter .
Well done to you all.
shame the buildings leak, are in a terrible state of repair, have no or very little disabled access & staff are in low moral, but hey, management are pleased!
Well done to all, keep up the good work, and thanks for being there for us all.
Just how bad are the others if ours is one of the best? Go to freshwater, Sandown, Bembridge, East Cowes, Shanklin stations. I’ve had to go to these stations on occasion and it’s like stepping into the 1960s. Luckily most of their work is helping the Ambulance service carry obese people out of properties. Yet again, more money flushed down the toilet on managers, meetings etc. Services on the island are dire. I’m glad I got out of the emergency services.