Fire service has 'more work to do' on concerns

More progress is needed to improve concerns raised about a fire service, inspectors have said.

His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) made six recommendations when it identified a cause of concern in Devon and Somerset Fire Service's prevention work during an inspection in 2024.

An update from HMICFRS said after a follow-up visit in January, the recommendations - which included having a consistent method of prioritising home safety visits - remained in place as more work was required despite "good progress".

Devon and Somerset's chief fire officer Gavin Ellis said the service took the findings "extremely seriously".

Other recommendations made by HMICFRS included ensuring the service's support systems provided an accurate picture of prevention-related community risk to help staff prioritise the most vulnerable people.

It also recommended having a clear process for post-incident prevention activity.

HMICFRS said the service recognised it was too early to fully close any of the recommendations made after the 2024 inspection.

"Despite making good progress against the cause of concern recommendations, the service still has more work to do," HMICFRS said.

Ellis said the fire service was aware it needed to do more work on the recommendations.

He added the service needed time for actions to be embedded and to "iron out any inconsistencies".

Ellis said: "The inspectorate will assess progress again at a later date.

"In the meantime, we will keep working on our improvement plan and continuing to support people in our communities to be safer."

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