FOCUS Fire service innovation
stretching imaginations by embracing diversity of thought and critical thinking – is one way of minimising bias when thinking about the future. It might just be possible to work this future focused approach into FRSs’ integrated risk management processes.
2. What are your core capabilities? What’s the real problem you need to solve? Perhaps surprisingly, this is not likely to be only about fighting fire, but also probably the ability to undertake professional and evidence based risk assessment and analysis, and to reduce risk and vulnerability through a broad range of prevention, protection and response activities. The community risk assessments that FRSs use to define capabilities would be the logical starting point. FRSs also enjoy a remarkable level of trust compared with just about any other kind of organisation. How can that trust be preserved and used in different ways without losing it?
3. How might you adapt and pivot between the first two things? What kind of attributes would an FRS need to respond to change? How would you ‘cannibalise’ core capabilities so that they are always going to be delivering according to their core value proposition? For example, what can you do better to make your tangible
42 APRIL 2020
www.frmjournal.com
and intangible assets work more effectively? Could FRSs focus on end users’ priorities? And what role can the community take in supporting itself and the most vulnerable within the community? How about early sharing of information by the community, in the same way that GoodSAM (Smartphone Activated Medics) and 999eye – pioneered by West Midlands FRS – enable emergency services to access phone cameras to locate and visualise casualties?
Thinking like this in an unconstrained way pays off. The big question is how FRSs should do it and whether they should be doing it alone. Should this be a joined up exercise with the rest of local government, acknowledging that a lot of the risks and opportunities in delivering vital public services are shared? Or are other, more radical models worth exploring, such as where FRSs work on problem specific collaborations with a broader ecosystem? That, we believe, is going to be critical to the long term future of FRSs. And that’s why a new mindset is required… One of the themes we’ve been constantly
reminded of while writing these articles is the mindset of the FRS workforce. As we have discussed articles with colleagues, many have pointed out that these thoughts are worth very little if they don’t change the way FRSs deliver or behave. That means potentially big changes to the way firefighters perform their roles.
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