The Combined Fire Authority for County Durham and Darlington Performance Committee met on Thursday 12 March 2026. The meeting's agenda included a review of the third quarter's performance report for 2025/26, a summary of letters of appreciation received by the service, and a discussion on formal complaints.

Performance Report Quarter Three 2025/26

The committee was scheduled to consider the Performance Report for Quarter Three of the 2025/26 financial year, presented by the Deputy Chief Fire Officer. This report provides a summary of the organisation's performance against a comprehensive suite of indicators, with targets set annually. The report details performance from two perspectives: comparison against annual targets and comparison with performance at the same point in the previous year.

Within the Prevention section, the report was expected to cover data on accidental dwelling fires, including fatalities, hospitalisations, and the number of home fire safety visits. It was noted that a significant proportion of accidental dwelling fires originated in the kitchen, with cooking-related activity being a common contributing factor. The report also highlighted the increase in secondary fires, largely attributed to dry, warm weather leading to vegetation-related incidents, with a high percentage being deliberate.

The Protection section was set to address performance in non-domestic premises, false alarms caused by automatic fire detection equipment, and the number of fire safety audits conducted. A particular concern was the continued poor performance regarding primary fires in non-domestic premises, heavily influenced by fires in prisons. The report indicated that conventional vapes were the highest ignition source for cell fires, and the rollout of anti-tamper vapes was noted as a potential measure to reduce these incidents.

Under Response, the committee was to review data on total emergency calls, total incidents, and primary fires. The report was expected to detail response times for dwelling fires, non-domestic fires, and road traffic collisions. It was noted that two out of the three response standards had achieved their target, with improvements seen in attending dwelling fires within eight minutes. The availability of on-call appliances was also to be discussed, with performance against the target of 75% being a focus.

The Health and Safety section was to present figures on accidents to personnel and service contributory vehicle accidents. The report indicated that while there had been only one accident in the third quarter, the year-to-date total was over the target. Poor performance was also noted for vehicle accidents, with several incidents involving appliances.

The report concluded with recommendations for members to note the content and comment on the reported performance.

Letters of Appreciation Quarter Three 2025/26

The committee was scheduled to receive a report detailing letters of appreciation received by the Service for the period 1 October to 31 December 2025. The report indicated that eleven letters were received during this period. Appendix A of the report was to provide a summary of these letters, which often highlight the professionalism and dedication of fire crews and other service personnel in responding to incidents and supporting the community.

Formal Complaints Quarter Three 2025/26

This item, scheduled for Part B of the meeting, was considered exempt or confidential information. The report of the Deputy Chief Fire Officer was to provide a summary of formal complaints received by the service for the period 1 July to 30 September 2025. Categories were assigned for audit and evaluation purposes. The report was expected to state the number of formal complaints received and whether any had been forwarded to the Local Government Ombudsman.