NEWS Jonathan O’Neill receives OBE for services to fire safety


THE MANAGING director of the FPA, Jonathan O’Neill, received his OBE on Tuesday 31 October at Buckingham Palace from Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. He was awarded with the OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to fire safety. Mr O’Neill, who became managing director of the Fire Protection Association in 1999, also sits on a number of government and ministerial advisory bodies, including the Business and Community Safety Board, the Arson Control Forum, the Integrated Risk Management Advisory Board and the Operational Guidance Strategy Board. Jonathan commented: ‘I am


very humbled – it is a recognition of all of the FPA’s work to keep people safe. It must be said that whilst I am the one who picked


up the award, I am only too aware that I am just the front man for what is an excellent team. ‘On behalf of the sector, I truly hope that we never have to respond to an incident on the


Fire data paints negative picture


HOME OFFICE figures revealed firefighter numbers have reduced ‘by nearly a quarter’ since 2007, while fire safety audits for high rise flats have fallen 12% this year, and the number of fires attended has increased. The findings showed that the


number of firefighters had declined from 42,385 in 2007 to 33,049 in 2017, a 22% decline over ten years and a 4% drop from 34,395 in 2016, as well as a 17% decrease from 39,678 in 2012. Responding, the Fire Brigades


Union stated that the ‘cut in firefighter posts mirrors a decline in fire prevention work’, with fire safety audits declining by 14% in the last year and 36% since 2010. Its view was that it was ‘deeply concerned about the figures’, and it warned that ‘the drop in firefighter numbers was a “huge threat” to public safety’. The Home Office report also


found that 11% of staff had left fire and rescue services in the last year alone, ‘prompting fears that low morale is leading to firefighters seeking employment elsewhere’. Response times to ‘practically


all’ types of fire had also ‘increased significantly’ since 2010, and are ‘at their slowest for 20 years’.


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A 12% drop in high rise flat inspections was also reported this year, with 3,097 blocks four storeys or taller examined. Findings included that the number of blocks four storeys or taller that received fire authority inspections in 2016/17 had fallen by over 400 since 2015/16, when 3,534 were assessed, while fire safety audits of all buildings fell by 14% to 54,247. Of the high rises checked this year,


78% were considered satisfactory, while 22% or 666 were considered unsatisfactory, and of all the buildings assessed, only 68% were deemed satisfactory. With houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), 1,140 received inspections but 583 were found to be unsatisfactory. Finally, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) was ‘concerned’ to see increases in fires attended by fire and rescue services (FRSs). Home Office statistics showed a 14% increase in fires attended in England, alongside a 7% growth in the number attended in total. The NFCC ‘voiced its concern’ about these figures, which also saw fires account for 31% of all incidents compared with 30% for non fire related incidents.


DECEMBER 2017/JANUARY 2018 www.frmjournal.com The remaining 39% were false


alarms, which ‘continued to be the largest incident type’, and while the ‘overall trend of fires and incidents remain on the decrease’ in the last 10 years, the NFCC was ‘concerned to see these reported increases’, and said it was ‘disappointing to see fires and incidents are on the increase as local fire and rescue services are working hard to prevent the number of fires in their communities’. There were also 346 fire related deaths compared to 289 the year before, a 20% increase – though this takes into account the 80 people that lost their lives at Grenfell Tower. In total, FRSs attended 574,659 incidents in the last year, a 33% decrease on ten years ago. They attended 175,673 fires, a 48% decrease compared to ten years ago. Roy Wilsher, NFCC chair, stated: ‘It is disappointing to see fires and incidents are on the increase. Local fire and rescue services are working hard to prevent the number of fires in their communities. It is essential this work continues and these figures show the continued local fire risk that fire services need to address through their work.’


scale of Grenfell Tower again. It has to be a wake up call. We have been campaigning for years – we hope this will lead to the best fire safety regulations in Europe.’


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