Kempston Community Fire Station Plan 2018-19

This Station Action Plan outlines how Kempston Community Fire Station will contribute towards protecting our local communities, responding to emergencies and preventing fires and other incidents. The risks our communities face are set out in the Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) which also details how we plan to ensure that your Fire and Rescue Service contributes, in a co-ordinated and meaningful way, towards keeping our communities safe. The document is available to view at www.bedsfire.com

“Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue service is committed to providing an equal Service to all within Bedfordshire, actions identified within this station plan contribute to this commitment and helps to ensure that the Service supports all communities”.

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service have a key strategic Service delivery objective:

To respond effectively, manage risks and reduce the number of emergency incidents that we attend.

To achieve this objective we will pursue the following Service priorities:

• Making Every Contact Count; ensuring that we make every possible use of the contact that we have with vulnerable people in society by way of education and advice and, where appropriate, making referrals to partner agencies.

• Service Delivery Effectiveness and Improvement; providing excellent prevention, protection and response functions to our communities and making improvements to these functions aligned to our changing risk profile so as:

o To Keep People Safe in Their Home;

o To Keep People Safe at Work, When in Public Places and During Their Leisure Time;

o To Keep People Safe When They Travel. • Firefighter Safety; keeping our operational Firefighters as safe as possible through the application of robust risk assessment processes, appropriate training, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and other equipment.

This Station Plan sets out how Kempston Community Fire Station fits into delivering these objectives during 2018/19.

2

Our Community

Kempston is Is divided into four wards Kempston Central and East, Kempston North, Kempston South and Kempston West with a total population of 19,330.

Kempston Central and East

The population of Kempston Central and East is 7,136 and is made up of approximately 51% females and 49% males. The average age of people in the area is 38, while the median age is lower at 37.

Communities who have settled in the area include those from India, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Kenya, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Jamaica, and Pakistan.

86.5% of people living in the area speak English. Top languages spoken are Punjabi, Polish, Italian, Lithuanian, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil, Urdu, and Romanian.

Kempston North

Kempston North has a population of 3,734 and is made up of approximately 51% females and 49% males. The average age of people in the area is 38, while the median age is also 38.

Communities who have settled in the area include those from India, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Kenya, Bangladesh, Jamaica, Ghana, and Pakistan.

91.4% of people living in in the area speak English. Top languages spoken are Punjabi, Polish, Lithuanian, Italian, Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian, Bengali, French, Tamil, and Chinese.

Kempston South

Kempston South has a population of 4,099 and is made up of approximately 52% females and 48% males. The average age of people living in the South is 38, while the median age is also 38.

Communities who have settled in the area include those from India, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Kenya, Jamaica, Ghana, Pakistan, and Zimbabwe.

90.8% of people living in the area speak English. Top languages spoken are Punjabi, Polish, Malayalam, Italian, Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian, French, Urdu, Russian, and Slovak.

3

Kempston West

Kempston West was 4,361 and is made up of approximately 52% females and 48% males. The average age of people in the West is 38, while the median age is lower at 37.

Communities who have settled in the area include those from India, Scotland, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Wales, Pakistan, Northern Ireland, Ghana, and Kenya.

90.6% of people living in the area speak English. The other top languages spoken are Polish, Punjabi, Italian, Persian/Farsi, Urdu, French, Bengali, Lithuanian, and Portuguese.

Community Risk Profiling

Working with Experian, the UK’s leading provider of consumer measurement and analytical services, Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service has utilised Customer Insight Profiling and has identified the following Groups within Kempston Station Ground as specifically being at higher than average risk of accidental dwelling fires.

Risk Group: At risk of: Action: Group 1: Less affluent Cooking fires. social renters with high fire Naked flame/combustible We will look to provide fire risk. material fires. safety information in range of Smoking related fires community languages

Group 2: High risk, elderly Accidental Dwelling Fires. We will see about visiting day singles reliant on state Cooking Fires. centres to provide information support. to elders and where appropriate their carers Group 3: Transient young Accidental Dwelling Fires. singles with high risk and Cooking Fires. We will look to target students few interventions. Naked flame/combustible in the area attending threshers material fires. week for example Smoking related fires. Group 5: Young, urban, Accidental Dwelling Fires. mixed ethnicity families Cooking fires. We will look to provide fire with moderate fire risk. Naked flame/combustible safety information in range of material fires. community languages Smoking related fires.

4

In addition Kempston Station Ground contains a significant number of households classified as ‘Affluent Families’. While these groups overall risk is very low in regards to fire, they do present a greater risk of being involved in road traffic collisions due to the amount of cars within the household.

Further evidence also shows that younger people and motorcyclists are more likely to be involved in a road traffic collision. Drivers who speed, drink drive, use mobile devices whilst driving or drive under the influence of drugs not only put themselves at greater risk but also endanger the lives of other road users.

Kempston Station Ground contains the following specific road risks:

• M1 Motorway;

• A421 running though Kempston from east to west linking A1 and M1 motorway;

• A6 running through Kempston towards Luton;

• Various rural B roads to adjoining villages within the Kempston area.

Customer Insight has identified that there are two Mosaic Groups prevalent in the Station Ground that have high levels of car and motorcycle ownership and complete high levels of annual mileage

These groups are;

Group 6 - Rural families and couples;

Group 7 - Affluent families in suburban locations.

We will look to reduce this risk with our partners through the Bedfordshire and Luton Casualty Reduction Partnership.

In addition to the road risk identified within Kempston Station turn out area there are a number of large structural buildings and other premises presenting a significant risk should they be involved in fire. These premises are inspected as part of an annual inspection programme, with Site Specific Risk Information being collated, updated and made available to fire crews who may attend incidents at these premises. These sites are numerous but include:

• Bedford Hospital Southwing;

• Bedford Prison;

5

• Infinos Power Station Brogbrough;

• Wells & Young’s Brewery;

• Richardson’s Oat Millers;

• Veolia Environmental Services;

• Yarlswood Detention Centre;

• Various High Rise Accommodations;

• Bedford to St Pancras Rail Line;

• Cranfield Airport.

Fire Fighter Safety Development

In order to ensure the ongoing Safety of our Fire Fighters our crews will undertake safety Critical Training Courses and training exercises throughout the year. Classroom sessions and practical drill will be supplemented with the Services E- learning system which ensures continuing competency across a Firefighters skill set. The service appraisal system will be used to identify training and development needs, with Fire Fighter training and Development being monitored and reviewed through the services electronic personal development programme.

Response

At Kempston Community Fire Station there are 4 Watches on a 24 hour shift pattern and an On-call (RDS) Duty system. Between them they crew the following appliances:

• 2 Rescue pumps;

• 1 Specialist Rescue Unit;

• 1 Water Carrier.

As part of on-going training and development, and to ensure operational readiness, Kempston Station will organise and participate in a series of training exercises throughout the year 2018 -2019, these to include:

6

Exercise > 3 pump Period/Dates Watch Allocated to: Hazardous materials, Initial White Operational Response South Wing June 18 Hospital Bedford High Rise Industrial Richardson’s August 2018 Red Mile Road Bedford. Cranfield Airport October 2018 Green

Retail Shopping, Harpur Centre May 2018 Blue Bedford RTC Exercise September 2018 On-Call (RDS)

High Rise Exercises Quarterly through All Watches 2018

In addition to these exercises Kempston will liaise and carry out joint Road Traffic Collision exercises with other stations, EEAS and partner agencies. Hi-Rise exercises will be organised and undertaken on a quarterly basis throughout the year.

Protection

Business premises and public buildings, such as schools are highly important to our local community as they provide both local services and employment opportunities. The majority of businesses affected by a fire never fully recover as customers are lost to competitors.

In order to protect these buildings and ensure the safety of building users, Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service delivers a risk based inspection programme to ensure compliance with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 on those premises to which it applies.

The Service will concentrate its Fire Safety resources on determining and reducing the levels of fire risk in the community by undertaking a series of fire safety audits and inspections of premises. This will focus primarily on those premises, workplaces and activities giving rise to the most serious risk to life, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion and age.

Fire safety audits will grade premises into one of five categories: very high, high, medium, low and very low risk. This audit process determines the future audit frequency, ranging from 1 year for very high / high risk to 5 years for low risk.

7

Fire Safety Inspection Officers (FSIO) will focus their audits on very high and high risk premises whilst Fire Crews will audit medium and low risk premises.

Kempston Community Fire Station will complete 192 Fire Safety Inspections during 2018/19.

Other types of Inspections carried out by Fire Crews:

Follow-up inspections - These are carried out to check whether the required or requested works on premises have been completed.

Specific inspections - These may be generated to check on a specific item or items e.g. overstocked stock rooms, the purpose of all these inspections is to ascertain that the fire safety arrangements are being maintained and adequate.

Risk Activity inspections - These are carried out on a whole host of premises that are either:

• Used extensively by large numbers of the public;

• Staffing capacities are below optimum levels;

• Where activities vary from the norm.

The purpose of the inspection is to ascertain that the fire safety arrangements are adequate, that sufficient numbers of staff are present and those staff on duty are aware of the fire safety measures within the premises and of the fire routines and evacuation procedures.

Risk activity inspections may be undertaken: • On routinely programmed premises for example, nursing homes and care homes

• ‘One off’ events (including Scout, Guide camps and other types of sleeping and activity events involving children);

• Licensed premises whilst it is anticipated that occupancy levels are high e.g. Night Clubs, outdoor concerts;

• Christmas inspections of retail premises where it is anticipated that stock levels in shops are high.

8

Fact finding visits – Fire Crews may be asked to visit a specific location to establish the current occupants of premises e.g. a specific industrial estate. This provides the Service with up to date information on whether a new occupier requires auditing.

All inspections aim to be completed by the last day of the month in which they were allocated.

For further information on Business & Commercial Fire Safety please refer to our website www.bedsfire.com under Community/Business Safety, Business Fire Safety or follow the link: http://www.bedsfire.com/CommunitySafety/BusinessFireSafety/Pages/default.as px

Prevention Activity

In order to reduce the risks identified above Fire Crews at Kempston Community Fire Station will undertake a range of Prevention Activities.

Activities Period/Dates Target Audience Watch Allocated to: Electrical & Cooking safety / 19th-25th All Target Groups Red Watch Register my November 18 Appliance NFCC Drowning 23rd-29th April Groups 5&7 White Watch Prevention Week 2018 Student Fire 22nd-28th Group 3 Blue Watch Safety Week October 2018 4th – 10th Child Safety week All Target Groups Green Watch June 2018 October – Bonfire Night / November All Target Groups Kempston RDS Burns Awareness 2018 All Target Groups. Where it is clear that language is a difficulty “Hot Strike” after we will use the services incident response, Throughout language card to All Watches following all calls 2017/18. identify the appropriate to domestic fires. language and ensure that the appropriate fire kills translated leaflet is left for the tenant or

9

family

National Fire and Rescue Campaign Calendar

The National Fire and Rescue Campaign Calendar provide a yearlong series of National Fire and Road Safety campaigns and initiatives. In order to reduce the risks identified above. Kempston Community Fire Station will support the following campaigns and initiatives:

Campaign Date Target Audience Watch Allocated to: World Cup Drink June /July Driving 2018 Target Groups 2,5,6 & 7 Red Watch World Cup June / July Alcohol and Target Groups 2, 5 & 7. White Watch 2018 Water Safety World Cup June / July Alcohol and 2018 All Target Groups Blue Watch Barbeques World Cup June / July Alcohol and Target Groups 1,3 & 5 Green Watch 2018 Cooking. Dementia/Deaf 21st -27th May All Target Groups Kempston RDS Awareness Week 2018 Christmas December All Target Groups All Watches Campaigns 2017 Kempston Cadet Unit will be taking part in, and assisting with Watch campaigns throughout the year 2018/2019. Cadet Unit

10

Home Safe & Well Visits

We will make people safer by educating them in their home by delivering a programme of Safe and Well Visits. Acting on referrals from partner agencies Kempston Community Fire Station will deliver Safe & Well Visits to vulnerable households in the community. A Safe & Well visit may include any of the following elements:

• Home fire safety advice;

• Instillation of smoke alarms and safety equipment;

• Crime Prevention Advice;

• Falls Risk Assessment;

• Smoking Cessation; and,

• Alcohol Audit. The elements that will be included in each individual Safe and Well visit will be determined by risks present in the household and the agreement of the occupier to engage in each element of the visit. Schools

Children can be especially at risk in a fire situation. Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service run a county wide education programme for Year 2 students that educates them about fire safety in the home. Crews from Kempston Community Fire Station will support this programme by completing all allocated Year 2 visits during the year.

Fire Cadets

Kempston Fire Cadets is open to all young people aged between 13 and 17 years old (school years 9-13). Fire Cadets gain an excellent knowledge of the Fire and Rescue Service's and learn the skills that our Firefighters use to save lives and protect the public such as the wearing of Breathing Apparatus, hose running, ladder climbing, and first aid.

As part of the national Fire Cadet scheme, Fire Cadets will have the opportunity to work towards a recognized BTEC Level 2 Award in Fire and Rescue Services in the Community and/or a Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award. They will also have the opportunity to travel up ranks and train as a Junior Instructor.

11

Like Firefighters, Fire Cadets also play an important role in their community by delivering advice on home fire safety, water safety, road safety and arson prevention, as well as supporting local initiatives and charities.

Fire Cadets meet on Monday evenings from 19:00 – 21:00 during school term time at Kempston Station.

Station Open Day

Blue Watch will be responsible for organising the Station Open Day during Quarter 2, 9th September 2018. The theme of the open day will be Road Traffic Collision Reduction working together with other Emergency and Volunteer Services targeting all identified groups.

Period/Dates Theme Key Activities: RTC Demonstrations throughout the RTC Reduction day 13:30-16:30 “The Honest Truth” Static Boat demonstration and Water Safety Advice th 9 September East of England Air Ambulance 2018 Target Audience (EEAA) Display Service Fire Appliance “Show and tell” All Groups Themed static displays to include Midshires Search and Rescue

12

Recruitment

Kempston Community Fire Station actively undertakes and promotes Retained Duty Recruitment through campaigns throughout the year. Potential candidates are directed to the current online application process through the Service website. Kempston Retained Duty Personnel will be undertaking positive action recruitment initiatives throughout 2018 – 2019 targeting female and ethnic minority groups.

Kempston Community Fire Station is undertaking the following recruitment activities in the coming year:

Campaign Date Target Audience Watch Allocated to:

Quarter 1 Working age females 19th May 2018 and Ethnic Minority groups. We will look to target local gyms and leisure centres as well Quarter 2 as use of social media Whole Time Watches “Have a go 4th August to attract potential and Kempston On-Call days” 2018 recruits. These days will RDS be run in collaboration with Bedford and Quarter 3 th Kempston Stations to 10 November ensure effective use of 2018 resources and advertising.

13

Kempston Community Fire Station Southfields Road, Kempston, Bedfordshire, MK42 7NR

Visit our website for fire and home safety advice: www.bedsfire.com

Follow us on Twitter: @bedsfire

Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, Southfields Road, Kempston, Bedford, MK42 7NR

01234 845000

14