Over the past two years London Fire Brigade has been transforming how it works to provide a better service for Londoners. The latest report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) highlights that more needs to be done despite that progress - something the London Fire Commissioner is aware of and has a plan in place to achieve. He welcomes the report and looks forward to working with stakeholders to continue making those improvements.
In 2019 London Fire Brigade welcomed its first inspection report by HMICFRS and accepted all their recommendations. Since that report the Brigade has completed 18 of the 26 recommendations and made many changes to improve the service provided across London and address the causes of concern. There has also been a focus on completing the 29 Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 recommendations, with 26 already completed.
This is reflected in the report, which recognises some of the significant changes that have been made, such as the implementation of a new high-rise policy, which changes how firefighters respond to high-rise fires. The Brigade has gained new equipment such as new smoke hoods, smoke blockers and 64m ladder appliances, which are the tallest in Europe. Training has continued to be a priority and firefighters continue to carry out high-rise training exercises at buildings across London. The Brigade also addressed previous concerns around driver training and incident command by implementing refresher training and increasing the number of courses available.
London Fire Commissioner, Andy Roe said: “I accept that we have a lot more to do and I am committed to driving forward the necessary changes. We are at the start of a long journey and fundamental change in large, complex organisations takes time.
“Change needs to start from within and it is my aim to ensure that staff feel comfortable and safe in their place of work. I will not tolerate any form of bullying or hostility towards anyone, it is my aim to eradicate this kind of behaviour from the Brigade.
“Our staff have been working tirelessly to improve our working practices and adopt new policies so that we can provide a better service to the communities of London.
“We have recently closed consultation on our new plan 'Your London Fire Brigade', which will continue to drive forward change and outline the service we aim to provide. It is important to me and my firefighters that we are providing our communities with the service they want from us and we have a clear plan in place to make sure we are trusted to serve and protect London and Londoners.”
One of the concerns outlined in today’s report relates to the culture of the Brigade, with not enough being done to improve the values and behaviours. The Commissioner accepts that the culture of the Brigade needs to change so that staff not only feel comfortable in their place of work, but also represent the diverse nature of our communities. In December 2021, he commissioned an independent review of our culture, led by Nazir Afzal, which will report in November 2022. This report will pave the way for further work to tackle the issue, but in the meantime we are working hard to change behaviours and encourage affected staff to speak up.
The report also highlights that whilst the Brigade has a well-trained team to respond to a terrorist incident, that not all firefighters are trained to respond to a marauding terrorist attack. In March 2022 a Marauding Terrorist Attack Agreement was put in place with the support of the Fire Brigades Union and firefighters began undertaking training, with 91 per cent of frontline staff having already completed a theory package and with practical training and exercising to follow as a priority.
Commissioner Roe continued: “The communities of London deserve to feel safe in their homes and places of work, we owe it to them to improve our service and deliver what they need from us – they are at the heart of everything we do.
"The extreme events of last week demonstrated just how capable our firefighters are – even in the most challenging circumstances their priority is always to protect the people of London, the Brigade needs to honour their courage and dedicated service by improving the organisation for the better. I’d like to reassure residents that we are a different Brigade from two years ago and while significant changes have been made, neither my staff nor I will stop looking for ways we can improve our service to you.”