This meeting was scheduled to include a presentation of the fire service's performance in Quarter Two of 2024/25, benchmarking it against other fire and rescue services, and noting letters of appreciation.

The committee was also scheduled to review the minutes from the previous meeting of the committee, which took place on 5 September 2024 and a confidential report on formal complaints received by the service.

Performance Report Quarter Two 2024/25

The report, which was prepared by the Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Keith Carruthers, was provided to allow the committee to scrutinise the performance of County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service (CDDFRS) in Quarter Two of 2024/25.

The most significant item discussed in the report was the number of deaths arising from accidental fires in dwellings in County Durham and Darlington, which, as of the end of Quarter Two of 2024/25, stood at two.

The report identified that kitchen fires were a particular area of concern, representing 51% of all accidental dwelling fires.

Kitchen fires continue to be an area of focus for our targeted Home Fire Safety Visits (HFSVs) with 51% of all incidents recorded as starting in this room. ¹

The report also discussed the performance of CDDFRS against a number of its other targets for the year so far, highlighting areas where performance was significantly above or below target.

Letters of Appreciation

The committee was scheduled to note the contents of eight letters of appreciation received by CDDFRS between 1 July 2024 and 30 September 2024.

A summary of each of the letters was provided in the report pack.

National Performance

The committee was scheduled to receive a presentation from Jon Bell, Information Services Manager, on CDDFRS's performance compared to other fire and rescue services in England.

The presentation was to use data published by the Home Office on 24 October 2024, covering the year to June 2024, and would highlight CDDFRS's performance relative to similar fire and rescue services.