ESSEX fire service has been told to make more fire engines available to respond to emergencies.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service (ECFRS) was reviewed by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS).

Overall, it said ECFRS was good at protecting people and responding to 999 callouts, but must further improve to provide a consistently good service.

A spokesman for the service “welcomed” the findings “which recognise the progress we’ve made in aligning our response to risk, while also highlighting the need to strengthen fire engine availability”.

Here is the full response from Essex Fire Service

“Our Service is making a difference through our prevention and protection work, especially for vulnerable people.  

That’s just one of the findings from the latest inspection report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), which confirms we are improving and heading in the right direction.

The report reflects that we are a risk-led and professional service, increasingly focused on protecting communities.

Rick Hylton, Chief Fire Officer/Chief Executive said: “We welcome this report. It reflects the Service we know. HMICFRS has recognised the progress we have made and the professionalism of our people. We are encouraged by that.”

The areas for improvement identified – operational availability, training consistency and organisational learning – are already part of our Community Risk Management Plan and our Service Delivery Plans. Work is well underway to strengthen these.”

In the past year, ECFRS has:

• completed more than 10,000 home fire safety visits, most targeted at vulnerable people, including dedicated Days of Action delivering 2,829 visits in a single month and support to residents in more than 200 sheltered housing schemes
• fitted more than 14,000 smoke alarms in people’s homes, helping residents stay safe, test their alarms and plan how to escape if a fire happens
• strengthened fire protection work, including inspecting more than 150 high-rise residential buildings and taking enforcement action where needed to improve safety
• carried out more fire safety checks in businesses to make sure standards are being met
• improved how it checks its work and uses risk information to better understand and manage changing risk across Essex

The inspection confirms our Community Risk Management Plan is the right strategy for Essex, focusing resources where they reduce risk the most to make Essex safer together.

You can read the full report here.