North Yorkshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner has published the county’s first ever Fire and Rescue Plan.
In forming the plan, which covers 2019-2021, Julia Mulligan invited views from members of the public, businesses, partners and the Fire and Rescue Service themselves – including firefighters, fire service staff and volunteers.
The document sets out the strategic vision, priorities and objectives for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service over the next two years, looking at how to keep communities safe, and respond to their needs, while appreciating the pressures and challenges the service faces.
Four priorities have been set with the vision to ensure North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue is an exemplary local service – these are:
- Caring about the vulnerable to provide services that will best protect the most vulnerable people in our community and in doing so, make them safer
- Ambitious collaboration to maximise opportunities to work jointly with partners and to provide a more effective, efficient and proactive community safety service
- Realising our potential to create an inclusive work environment and a positive, supporting culture where we provide our people with the equipment, IT, training, skills, and capacity to effectively prevent and respond to incidents
- Effective engagement to increase trust and public confidence in our Service, involving, engaging and consulting our communities on the services we provide and delivering the best possible service
Julia Mulligan, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, said:
This is the first time that priorities for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service have been clearly and publicly set out and are based on the priorities that the fire service, plus the communities and businesses of the county, have told me are important.
A lot has been achieved since I took on the governance of the Fire and Rescue Service, including stabilising a precarious financial position. We also have new and excellent leadership of the service who can drive forward the changes we need to keep the service sustainable while ensuring communities are protected and feel safe.
We have professional, committed and engaged firefighters and fire service staff across North Yorkshire. This plan will support them to be the best they can be. I passionately believe the Fire and Rescue Service can be the best in its class and together, working to this plan, we can achieve that.
The full document and Fire and Rescue plan can be seen at www.northyorkshire-pfcc.gov.uk/fire-rescue-plan/