Fire and Rescue Service Statistics

Communities and Local Government published today the Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) Operational Statistics bulletin, which covers operational statistics for the period 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007.

There has been a gradual increase in the representation of women and minority ethnic staff over the last three years. At 31 March 2007, women formed 3.1% of the operational workforce compared with 2.5% in 2005 and minority ethnic staff formed 3.2% of all staff (uniformed and non-uniformed combined) compared with 2.7% in 2005.
Sickness absence levels for wholetime firefighters have improved slightly since the previous year, while those for fire control staff have increased to 12.6 shifts/days lost from 11.9 shifts/days lost in 2005/06.

The number of staff retiring on grounds of ill health has also decreased over the last three years.

The total number of injuries sustained by firefighters (during training, operational incidents and routine activities) in 2006/07 decreased by 281 to 4,312; a drop of 6% on the previous year.

The fire and rescue service attended a total of 797 thousand incidents. The total incidents attended were made up of the following: fires, 43%; fire false alarms, 37%; and non fire incidents, 21%.

Date article online: 07/05/2008