Surrey Fire and Rescue Service is currently in the process of asking residents across the county for their views on the proposed changes in the Community Risk Management Plan 2025/30.
Chief Fire Officer Dan Quin, and National Fire Chief Council's lead for Road Safety and Road Rescue and Vice Chair of the UK Rescue Organisation, has released the below statement on what these changes mean for the brigade:
"In every community, the fire and rescue service stands as a pivotal player in public safety: preventing emergencies and protecting our communities, whilst responding to incidents with unwavering dedication should the worst happen. However, as society evolves, so too must our approach to emergency response. It’s time to make some changes to ensure that Surrey Fire and Rescue Service can continue to evolve and become even more effective and efficient.
"Emergency response for fire and rescue services nationally has transformed dramatically in recent years. We see far fewer house fires, and far more road traffic collisions, technological advancements have introduced new challenges for the industry and the impact of climate change has intensified natural disasters. This is why prevention is at the heart of our service and why we must adapt and evolve to meet the growing needs of the communities we serve.
"Even in the last almost 25 years that I’ve worked at Surrey Fire and Rescue Service, I’ve seen a great deal of change and challenge in order to get us to where we are today. Which brings me to our new plan, our proposed Community Risk Management Plan 2025-30. In which, we’re proposing seven changes to the way we currently work in order prevent emergencies, align ourselves to current and emerging risks and ensure we can respond if needed, with the right kit and knowledge.
"A necessary change for us is to ensure that our resources are deployed where they are most needed to meet risk and demand. Five of our proposals focus around this theme. A pressing change required is to relocate the fire engine and crew at Banstead Fire Station. The lease for the current site ends in 2025 and it is not fit for purpose. For example, there is no training ground here so crews have to leave the Banstead area to perform regular training. In addition, we believe our contaminants management here could be better, a temporary fix is in place however that is not a long-term solution.
"Whyteleafe is the most appropriate location to move the fire station to, based on risk and demand, however we have not been able to find a suitable site within this area. Therefore, to ensure the best balance of fire and rescue cover for Surrey, we’re proposing to move the fire engine and crew to Godstone Fire Station. By doing so, we know we can continue to provide a balanced service across Surrey, achieving our response target in both Reigate & Banstead and Epsom & Ewell boroughs and actually improving our response time in Tandridge.
"Our proposal to move a crew from Camberley Fire Station to one north of the county, in Spelthorne or Elmbridge, aligns our resources Our proposal to move a crew from Camberley Fire Station to one north of the county, in Spelthorne or Elmbridge, aligns our resources to risk and demand even further. It would still keep Camberley protected, with 24/7 fire and rescue cover, ensuring that prevention, protection, and response activities can be fulfilled. The move, in turn, would then provide a heightened level of cover, specifically more at nighttime, within the Spelthorne or Elmbridge areas.
"Furthermore, our proposal to review resources at Haslemere, will allow us to ensure that we can be more efficient due to the lower call outs and risk here. We can also explore the option of different contracts which could have a positive outcome in terms of our equality, diversity and inclusion ambition, to become more representative of the communities we serve. We’d also like to review our specialist vehicles and equipment that we have, such as those used at wildfires or flooding. The review will ensure they are not only located in the right place, but also that they’re appropriate or whether we need to invest in new technology.
"The number of incident call outs per day of the week does not significantly fluctuate, however our current plan, allows for five more fire engines to be made available at the weekend daytime. Not only are they not required to meet our response target of ten minutes to critical incidents, they’re also not usually made available due to the nature of their crewing (crewed by on-call firefighters in their own time). Our plan looks to remove the requirement for Chobham, Dunsfold, Gomshall, Guildford and Lingfield to be on-call during weekend daytimes, and purely make them evening only on-call fire engines (keeping in mind that Guildford also has wholetime fire engines on duty at this time). We are not proposing to reduce the number of on-call firefighters at these locations, but instead focus their availability to when it is most needed.
"Finally on this theme, a proposal to provide additional response support to meet increased seasonal risk. For instance, we know that the time of year that Camberley does need some more support is during the summer wildfire season. So we’d like to put a layer of resilience in place when our data shows we need it.
"Our final proposal, which brings us back to my initial point made, is to continue to be a pivotal player in public safety. We’ll work closer with health partners to keep people safe, particularly those most vulnerable. We want to expand on how we work with partners to maximise prevention and protection activity – whether that be responding to non-emergency calls such as falls, supporting medical emergencies, and/or supporting with a hospital discharge processes.
"It is worthwhile remembering that whilst these are the proposals for our next plan, they are not our only aims. Our commitments as a service are much broader, including ensuring that we are a great place to work, we are inclusive and welcoming, both for those already in the service and encouraging new people to our great team. We want everyone to feel like they belong and can be their true selves at work.
"In conclusion, the time has come for you to give us your feedback. By ensuring our resources meet the demand and risk and maximising opportunities to support vulnerable people, we’re confident that we will put Surrey in a better position, in terms of public safety."
You can share your views on the proposals being forward in the Community Risk Management Plan online here.
Pictured, Surrey Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters at Wray Park
