Hartlepool's fire brigade among fastest in the country at responding to incidents

A panel heard how the brigade is among the fastest in the country in responding to numerous different types of incidents.

Tim Graham, head of risk and performance, said the fire brigade is ‘significantly exceeding its response benchmarks in attending incidents’ at a meeting of the Cleveland Fire Authority Audit and Governance Committee.

Home Office average response times for 2019/20 showed firefighters in Cleveland were second nationally in responding to both secondary fires, such as those involving rubbish and grassland, and dwelling fires.

Meanwhile they were third fastest in responding to road vehicle incidents, and the fourth best for responding to all primary fires, including those involving properties and vehicles, and other building fires.

They were also the eighth-best in the country for responding to other outdoor fires, according to the presentation from Mr Graham.

He said: “In terms of all cases, in terms of primary fires, dwelling fires, other building fires, road vehicle fires, other outdoor fires and secondary fires we are faster than the national average in all cases by a considerable margin.

“That shows a very positive performance in terms of our actual attendance times to fire incidents when we compare ourselves with the rest of the country.”

In terms of response times for road traffic collisions, Mr Graham added the target is to arrive in under eight minutes, and the average response time in 2019/20 was five minutes and 34 seconds.

For building fires the target time is seven minutes for the first appliance, and 10 minutes for the second.

Again, firefighters in Cleveland managed to beat these targets, with the average for the first appliance being four minutes and 47 seconds, and the second being six minutes and 34 seconds.

For industrial fires the target for the first appliance arriving is seven minutes, and in 2019/20 the average time for Cleveland was five minutes and 11 seconds.

Cllr Lynn Hall, Stockton-on-Tees representative on the fire authority, praised the performance figures.

She said: “It was really reassuring the figures of response, how fast the appliances are getting to fires, particularly when we compare that with the national figures, and I welcome, I really do welcome that comparison.”

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