FIRESA Reception: Mission Accomplished

By David Smith, FIRESA Council Secretary

If there’s one thing better than organising a worthwhile event, it’s having organised a worthwhile event. I tend to find them quite stressful and have a palpable sense of relief once it’s all over. The FIRESA Reception held on Thursday 2^nd May at our office in Hampton was such an event and I’m pleased it’s ‘mission accomplished’.

The Reception formally welcomed our newest group of members, made up of companies that were integrated into the FIA from FIRESA at the start of April.

For those that are not aware, The FIA has provided FIRESA’s secretariat services for the last eight years but it was an independent body until the full merger last month, which was agreed earlier this year.

We started the morning with a session led by the FIRESA Council’s trusty Chairman, Derek Gotts, looking at the FIRESA Council’s achievements over the past year and its future objectives. Few would doubt that the Fire and Rescue sector has been subject to significant transition over recent years and calmer waters are not yet on the horizon. As we move through 2013, the Fire and Rescue sector faces particular challenges both internally and under the influence of several external factors.

FIRESA was often described in its infancy as the official opposition to Firebuy, the organisation set up to administer the, then, ODPM’s National Procurement Strategy. I would argue that it was never as simple as that but with reports of Firebuy’s demise having been realised early in the Coalition government tenure in its ‘bonfire of the quangos’, the FIRESA Council’s work has evolved, and will continue to do so as a multi-dimensional body acting on all fronts on behalf of the fire fighting supply industry.

We also had two terrifically informative presentations from external speakers. First up was CFO Ian Hayton of Cleveland Fire and Rescue Service, perhaps currently one of the more controversial figures in the sector, given his plans to mutate the FRS into a public service mutual which would include their already-active commercial trading arm.

Ian explained that this is in response to government grant award cuts that have led him to implement radical changes in Cleveland’s service delivery model. The Fire Minister, Brandon Lewis, is trying to push through the necessary regulatory changes that would allow this and any future mutuals to operate as legal Fire and Rescue Services although it was emphasised that this does not imply that all Services should become mutuals. It appears, however, that the very same changes in law would open the door not only to employer-led mutuals but to provision of these services by commercial organisations acting under the jurisdiction of the local Fire and Rescue Authority.

Next up was CFO Paul Fuller of Bedfordshire and Luton FRS who spoke in his role as Vice-President of the Chief Fire Officers Association. Touching on the previous issue, he noted the CFOA view that it is opposed to FRS privatisation before going on to discuss a number of issues that are presently being addressed. Among them was what he sees as the success of the Integrated Risk Management Planning approach by the FRS’s and the increasing levels of sophistication being applied to determining and responding to fire risks at a local level. Certainly, Paul sees this widening to become a shared process involving the full spectrum of the fire safety community and with the goal of making real safety improvements to the built environment.

The second part of the day offered a timely chance for our FIRESA-derived members to gain an initial overview of important information about the Associations’ activities from those members of the FIA Team who drive the various functions which will now serve the new FIRESA Council.

I’m delighted to report some very appreciative feedback immediately after the event and indeed, this morning as I opened my e-mail box. I hope one of our guests, Susan Munro of Monro Kempton Associates, doesn’t mind me quoting her saying ‘The day was extremely informative and useful in the context of what is happening regarding potential privatisation and the development of mutuals and the implications this will have on EU Procurement, Localism and the future of contracting. The speakers were excellent and humorous. Additionally, I was impressed by the services offered by the FIA and the wider benefits in addition to the all-important networking you can offer’.

Thank you Susan and finally, thanks to everyone who was involved and attended yesterday.

Harlem Shake to King’s Cross Fire – 25 Years, it’s Long Time!

By Graham Ellicott, FIA CEO

Every day I take a look at the BBC News website to see what’s happened in the fire world. I’m usually looking for which fire and rescue service has, yet again, changed their attendance policy or what the government’s latest views on the way that the fire sector will change in the future are. This type of information seems to come in waves; lots of news about possible privatisation and then nothing, followed by a plethora of videos of fire people doing the Harlem Shake!

Indeed, a quick search reveals that London, Staffordshire and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Services have all recorded their own Harlem Shake! I was particularly intrigued by the red elephant (Welephant) in the Staffordshire version and wondered whether it was that great sport, Chief Fire Officer, Peter Dartford, getting down with the kids! My guess is, if it was, he won’t be doing this when he assumes the mantle of President of the Chief Fire Officers Association in a year or two’s time.

But it’s not only the fire and rescue services that shake their booty as can be seen from the TYCO Electronics version which does seem a bit tame and certainly doesn’t contain a red elephant – that’s a ‘blue chip’ company approach!

But leave aside the Harlem Shake videos which are most likely, a passing internet craze; for the participants- they will have had their Warholesque five minutes of fame. The thing that caught my eye on the BBC News website was an article on the radio show The Reunion. The latest edition brings together people involved in the Kings Cross Fire and listening to this it took me back just over twenty five years.

This was a particularly formative time in my life as I’d just returned to live in the UK after a major adventure in North America and I was finding it hard going. Nobody here was interested in what a great time I’d had over the last six years abroad and the UK had massively changed since I had left in 1981. Britain then, as now in many cases, regarded the glass as being half empty (and at risk of being knocked over) whereas, generally North America is a glass half full place!

As a result of the Kings Cross Fire, ‘The Fire Precautions (Sub-surface Railway Stations) Regulations 1989’ were introduced. In addition, smoking was banned in all London Underground stations; smoking on the trains themselves had been banned in 1984 following a fire at Oxford Circus tube station. Thirty one people died in the Kings Cross fire including the fireman Station Officer Colin Townsley who was posthumously awarded the George Medal.

Well, I’m still in the UK, although in 1987 I nearly did get back on the jet to return to the land of optimism. As I grow older I think I become mellower and on a slow day in the fire world I think I’ve seen it all before. I hope I never have to see another Kings Cross type fire again; it would be depressing in the extreme to think that 31 people died in vein.

It’s good to see that fire and rescue services can find time for a piece of fun such as the Harlem Shake, indeed the Greater Manchester version was encouraging people to cook more safely and in particular to ‘Ban the (Chip) Pan’. I’m sure that despite these austere times the fire and rescue will continue to fight the glass half empty syndrome; to do their job you surely have to be a measured optimist!

Would you believe it I’ve just knocked over my glass of squash (fruit juice is banned at the FIA but that’s the subject of another blog) which had been half full…

2013 FIA Conference

2013 FIA Conference, a set on Flickr.

Thursday 14th March turned out to be a wonderful spring day at Edgbaston Cricket Ground – perfect for the 2013 FIA Conference.

Here are some pictures from the event for all attendees to share. Many thanks to everyone who came and we look forward to seeing you next year.

Monica Keats

On Your Child’s Life

Above: Monica Keats

As this Sunday, 31st March, sees the clocks change for the official start of Spring – before you busy yourself with the kids’ Easter egg hunt on Easter Sunday - why not test your smoke alarm?

Here’s why you should…

According to Fire Kills, last year, in England, 15 children died in house fires.

This year they’re asking parents to make a promise; when you change your clock on 31 March, test your smoke alarm.

It takes no time at all and could save your family.

Fire Kills has produced a video as part of their ‘On Your Child’s Life‘ campaign to really bring the message home – share this video and help everyone make their homes safer this Easter.

By Monica Keats

Imagining the Eco Home of Tomorrow

By Vicky Keeble, FIA Compliance Manager

Last Monday the FIA team got involved with Climate Week by taking part in the Climate Week One Hour Challenge.   The FIA staff got into three teams to compete against each other to design the ultimate eco-home.

I gave them a large blank sheet of paper and a marker pen, and left them to their own devices.  Forty five minutes later the three ideas presented were very different to each other.  This was great, because when we’re looking for ideas and technologies to beat climate change and improve the sustainability of our lifestyles we need to get a range of opinions in the pot to come out with something truly radical.  (As an aside, if you’re interested in collaborative efforts to solve eco problems, DNA data on the Ash Dieback Disease is being released internationally to get as many scientists thinking about solutions as possible as attempts to save the trees are getting more desperate.)

The FIA team’s solutions to the eco-home challenge included a circular house which was designed to minimise surface area and heat loss; size adjustable ovens so you only heat the area you need and reusing old industrial buildings (such as empty HMV stores!) to provide new housing.

There were rules and products to encourage more sustainable behaviours such as mandatory jumpers issued on entry into the home; built in furniture to prevent excessive buying of ‘stuff’ and home offices to reduce commuter travel.

And a new idea for the fire industry to take forward is to ‘light’ houses and corridors with photo luminescent wallpaper to guide you around your home in the evening.  Team 3 will have to get their product on the market quick to beat the rush!

Even more (way, way, way) out there was the rather futuristic suggestion that we harness the energy stored in dark matter from space.  You’ll have to ask Dave Smith our Export Manager about that, because he lost me quite early on in the explanation of how this would be achieved!

All in all the event was great fun, we put ourselves on the Climate Week event map, and it gave us a few things to think about!

 

Lion’s Mouth Curry, Goat’s Head Soup

Above: Graham Ellicott

Being a person of mature years I just about remember rationing and the rejoicing that occurred when rosehip syrup was easily available again – hell we were easily pleased in those days. Growing up in the 1950’s we ate all sorts of stuff that people these days either cringe at or assume it’s something off Heston Blumenthal’s menu at the Fat Duck.

Did you oldies out there eat stuffed hearts, tripe and onions, suet puddings or goats head soup? Just kid(ding) this was a 1973 Rolling Stones album that featured the track Angie and the great unsung Stones guitar player- Mick Taylor. Come to think of it, Brain Salad Surgery by Emerson Lake and Palmer also came out in 1973 so there’s another thing you could have eaten if you had a craving for vinyl – but I digress…

One of the things I never did eat though was Lion’s Mouth Curry and until recently I thought I never would; if only because lions are probably on the CITES protected species list along with old fat fire blokes like me. If we aren’t – we should be as we are easily distinguishable and thus easily hunted slow moving creatures.

Recently I had the chance to experience this Leo based culinary delicacy courtesy of the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA), who were holding one of their ‘safaris’ at a game lodge close to Nottingham. The event had the snappy title of “Prevention, Protection and Road Safety (PPRS) Conference” and my invite came from Dave Curry (the PPRS ‘Lead’ for CFOA) and putting one’s head into the CFOA Lion’s Mouth looked like too tempting a mouth-watering delicacy to miss.

Dave suggested that I metaphorically poke the natives with a sharp stick loaded with ‘Who are the FIA’ and ‘What can we do to work together’. Blimey I thought, that’s going to be mind-blowingly fascinating. Having thought about this for a while I went back to Dave and said I’d take the risk of being eaten alive but that my fate could be made more palatable for all involved if I had a suitable warm-up act speak just ahead of me.

Dave said he’d do his best and on the day of the ‘safari’ he was as good as his word – I went on after Neil Gibbins -that old big game hunter from Devon and Somerset (not many lions now left on Dartmoor because of Neil!). Between Neil and myself we have close to 100 years’ experience in the business and as I’ve only been in it since 1981, you can see what a wily old big game hunter this Gibbins bloke is! Mind you, he nearly blew it with a joke that mentioned horse burgers and the withdrawal of oak flooring because it was contaminated with lam….in.…ate but the audience laughed albeit after an explanation was forthcoming.

Thirty five PowerPoint slides from me is normally enough to put any old animals to sleep but these CFOA types are tough and they politely stayed awake and asked several questions about the FIA and where we can all work together. I particularly liked the one that began ‘Graham, now I know that you disagree with……but’ – it’s nice to have one’s views acknowledged; it shows that somebody reads the blog and the tweets!

But why have I written this blog? Well, during the course of the 35 slide sojourn I mentioned that the FIA relies heavily on Social Media to get its message across and that I could write a blog about being at the CFOA event to which one of the more awake in the audience said ‘Dare You’. At this point Neil Gibbins dropped his big game rifle and put his head in his hands as I guess that he could see what sort of drivel might be written!

In all seriousness, there was a time when CFOA would not have wanted a presentation at any of their conferences from the trade. Those days have gone and even though there are some items on which they and the FIA disagree, there are far more items on which we share the same common ground. Indeed it’s likely that my venture into the lion’s den will lead to some specific false alarms problems being solved by both parties along with other fire stakeholders – so a tangible outcome. I’d like to thank Dave Curry for the invite to speak.

Note: No animals were harmed in the writing of this blog although this old fat fire bloke did hurt his knees running for the buffet during the Safari’s lunchtime – too slow though as all of the ‘Goats Head Soup’ had gone by the time I got there and I had to achieve ‘ Satisfaction’ from what was left at the ‘Beggars Banquet’ – mainly ‘Brown Sugar’ sprinkled over a ’Little red Rooster’.

By Graham Ellicott, FIA CEO

If anybody nos what this is, step forward

A bad pun, I know, but it sums up a broad problem.

If you’re aware that the National Occupational Standard (NOS) for Electronic Security Systems has successfully undergone its periodic review, been accredited by UKCES and that it includes detail for electronic systems in the fire sector as well as security, raise your hand. If you’re not familiar with any of these points you’re certainly not alone.

To clarify, NOS are a set of standards drawn up by Sector Skills Councils in consultation with industry practitioners that aims to set out the knowledge and skills required for an individual to do their job. They are relatively broad brush in both the range they cover and their detail but provide a common starting point for qualification setting, training needs analysis and career development planning. The problem is that much of the industry which NOS serves is entirely oblivious to its existence. As a result without justification, particularly through use, the will to maintain NOS will wane until eventually it is discontinued.

Now, there will be many out there who say if we’re not using it anyway, where’s the problem? In short the main user of NOS are the awarding organisations setting qualifications for vocational and higher education. Without NOS we wouldn’t have a common understanding of what job roles require.  Without NOS we wouldn’t have NVQ or QCF qualifications, in turn no apprenticeship.

Without NOS training providers will either have to draw industry consultation groups together, increasing costs, or rely on in-house levels of knowledge and understanding, reducing the quality of learning available.  Without NOS job descriptions would be locally subjective making it harder for both employers and employees to fill vacancies.

By Ian Gurling, FIA Training Manager

Benchmarking Best Practice

After a long drive up the motorway last week, I attended the plush venue at Cheshire Fire and Rescue, Winsford, for an FIA  Means of Escape continued professional development day for Fire Risk Assessors.

The event was well attended by a mix of fire safety professionals including enforcement offices, risk assessment specialists and fire safety equipment maintenance and supply executives. A perfect networking opportunity for everyone!

The day was planned around Means of Escape issues and covered a range of topics, from smoke control, ventilation, fire curtain protection, to emergency lighting and low proximity photoluminescent escape systems. So much to cover in so little time!

The theme throughout the presentations was standards – bench marking and conformance to best practice. The presentations are now available on the FIA website.

The best presentation in my opinion was given by Mike Ward of Coopers Fire, a polished presentation that would give anyone confidence that they know what they are talking about and their systems have provenance and tested performance.

A close second will go to Paul Compton from Colt International who engaged the audience with the behaviour of smoke when engineered correctly by a ventilation system, paying particular attention to both intake and exhaust. Colt International obviously has stature, pedigree and experience in the science of air movement.

The final hurdle before home time was the issue of emergency lighting and photoluminescent escape lighting in accordance with ISO 16069 Safety Wayguidance Systems. All in all, a very worthwhile day!

By Jim Creak, Means of Escape

Stay Safe on Valentine’s Day

Now, I understand that most people like a bit of romance on Valentine’s Day but we must all take precaution on a hot date.

Sprue Safety Products is urging romantics to consider fire safety when they’re wooing the apple of their eye with this short animation featuring our friend ‘flee’ the dog:

I couldn’t have said it better myself! So when things are heating up – don’t forget ‘Flee’ and blow out those candles!

By Monica Keats

More Scary than Privatisation of English Fire and Rescue Services?!

Above: Graham Ellicott

Being half asleep this morning I stumbled past the news stand and grabbed what I thought would be my usual fix of the Grauniad. You know, the soft ‘leftie’ stuff with all of the typos plus Simon Hoggart poking fun at David Cameron’s mobile bald spot.  Somehow or another I managed to grab one of the red tops and was already on the tube before I realised what a mistake I’d made!

Being a somewhat prudish person I turned over the first page and squinted as I thought that I might be hit right between the eyes by a sight that would have shocked an oldie like me. On opening the left eye softly first (in sympathy with the Grauniad’s politics) I was even more shocked than I could have first imagined, so much so that my right eye went into spasm and it was seconds before I grasped the gravity of the situation. They say everything goes south as you get older but I have to say my chin quickly hit the floor as grinning back at me was Brandon Lewis the Fire Minister!

Having got over my visual disappointment I managed to read the headline “Fire sale: Secret Government bid to privatise fire and rescue services revealed” and was even more alarmed as it would seem if the article was correct that all 46 fire and rescue services in England could be sold off to private firms under secret Government plans.

My view of this is that any move in fire and rescue service ownership that will affect life safety and property losses from fire is a bad idea. Personally I believe that there needs to be a co-ordinated approach to any change of ownership of England’s Fire and Rescue Service, not the piecemeal method that is apparently being proposed at the moment via individual fire authorities; this being in line with the Government’s Localism initiatives. This fragmented approach will likely lead to differences in fire cover and interoperability problems between the English fire and rescue services. In contrast, Scotland is moving to one fire and rescue service that will continue to be state run. One must ask the question as to why the UK taxpayer who funds all of this gets a different fire service in Scotland to England and now looks likely to get an even wider variety of fire service in England?

On the way back from my meeting I again visited the news stand and made a grab for my favourite top shelf publication to read on the journey back. Having eagerly ripped off the tamper proof cellophane to look for Rod Liddle’s prose in the Spectator, I found that again I’d mistakenly picked up some obscure publication called Focus. There was a scary article about some fat prat on a bike on the back page – this was even more disturbing than the page two article featuring Brandon Lewis in the Daily Mirror.

By FIA CEO Graham Ellicott