To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.
Minutes:
The Chairman opened his announcements by thanking the Fire Service for their help and assistance to the public with the flooding that had affected areas of the County. The Chief Fire Officer confirmed that the Fire and Rescue Service were working closely with the Police and other Authorities. Whilst high volume water pumps were on hand for other Service’s to use, there had not been a requirement for them yet.
The Chairman updated Members on the Combined Fire Authority (CFA), stating that the Home Office were continuing with their planned timetable to lay the Combination Order before Parliament in early March. Following this, if all went to plan, the order would come into force on 1 April. The Deputy Chief Fire Officer thanked the Legal team for their hard work within the challenging time frames and also Geoff Howsego for his contributions to the CFA and getting it to the stage it was at. The Chairman echoed thanks to Geoff on behalf of the Authority ahead of him leaving the Fire and Rescue Service in May.
Paul Hodgson, Head of Legal for the Fire Authority, confirmed that Southampton City Council and Portsmouth City Council had been invited to appoint Members to the Shadow Authority at their upcoming County Council meetings, ahead of the first meeting in April. The first meeting would focus on the appointment of a Chair and Vice Chairman and the adoption of key constitutional documents.
Members also learned that the Risk Management Policy had been consulted on with the public at the end of 2019. This had been overseen by the Consultation Institute who said “The HFRS/IWFRS recent consultation was another example of good practice and we were encouraged by the way in which they were continually open to adapting their Consultation to the requirements of their public”.
HMICFRS inspection dates had now been confirmed, and the inspections of IWFRS and HFRS would take place separately. The IWFRS discovery week will commence on 30 March 2020, with the inspection week starting 27 April 2020 and the HFRS discovery week will commence on 31 August 2020, with the inspection week starting 28 September 2020.
A new “Protection Board” was being led by the National Fire Chiefs Council and its purpose was to develop a programme of work designed to deliver the Secretary of State’s commitment to increase the pace of activity across high-rise residential buildings with ACM cladding systems.
Hampshire Officers were engaged with the group to help shape developments such as a revised framework to help deliver better and more consistent regulation with regards fire safety.
The Chairman paid thanks on behalf of the Fire Authority to the Fire Fighters fighting the Australian wildfires. Members learned that UK Fire and Rescue Services were represented through the national resilience lead officer, and Hampshire and the Isle of Wight were linked into this officer. A Hampshire Fire Fighter had gone out on leave to assist with a charity during the recovery process.
The Chairman confirmed his attendance at the Unity 101 Community Radio 14th Anniversary Awards and Achievement Dinner, which was the south’s first and longest running Asian and ethnic community radio station.
On the 14 February Cosham Fire Station organised an “I Need My Space” event to raise awareness of where vehicles are parked by residents as well as how emergency vehicles are received and accounted for on the road when attending an incident.
On the 6 April there was a commemorative event planned to mark 10 years since the death of two Fire Fighters at Shirley Towers. Further details would follow in due course.