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workforce to better reflect and understand the communities they serve. We have already noted that risk and
vulnerability have changed. For instance the impact of terrorism, climate change and the understanding of the wider determinants of health and wellbeing have changed dramatically in recent years and will continue to do so at pace. These are not agendas that can be addressed by a single service or agent, and therefore collaboration across organisational and disciplinary boundaries has become essential. That requires a different role for FRSs, not just at an incident but also before, during and after it. In the face of multiple demands and
stretched resources, it might be tempting to make only incremental changes to the FRSs UK wide – or to choose to be a late adopter. However in our view this would be practically, socially and ethically reckless. Such radical change sees questions emerge about the role of fire services and firefighters which need to be explored and answered, including the following: • if other parties enabled by innovation were to enter the fire and rescue space, what might the effects be and how should fire authorities proceed?
• what would the impact of increasing community power over funding and decisions mean for the fire service,
52 MARCH 2020
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and how could this make delivering the mission easier?
• as public services embrace an ever increasing digital mindset, what would that look like for fire and rescue and how could such a culture change be successfully made?
These questions are intended to provoke further conversation about what the future could and should be across FRSs and potentially all local public services, but in posing them it is important to recognise also that we need to talk about how to turn them into tangible actions. This isn’t simple, because actions have consequences, the morality of which is already under scrutiny.
Beyond technology
Advances in technology create new capabilities and the potential for making communities safer in new ways. Smart cities and 5G technologies for example will enable device connectivity and big data collection, but in turn these raise several challenges. Early real time data and intelligence will bring early information that can prevent emergencies from occurring and enable earlier interventions that are informed through intelligence; but what will this mean for public services? What will be their role in a world where risk will be managed to a safer minimum
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