The Combined Fire Authority for County Durham and Darlington Performance Committee met to review performance reports for Quarter Four of 2024/25 and Quarter One of 2025/26, and to note letters of appreciation received by the service. Councillors reviewed performance against set targets, comparing it with the previous year's figures, and identified areas needing improvement. The committee also noted the letters of appreciation.

Performance Report Quarter One 2025/26

The committee reviewed the Performance Report for Quarter One 2025/26, which provided a summary of the organisation's performance. Overall, 54.8% of strategic performance indicators met or exceeded their target level, while 51.2% either maintained or improved compared to the previous year.

Prevention: Councillors noted that there had been no fatalities in accidental dwelling fires during the quarter. However, accidental dwelling fires were up, with 57 incidents compared to a target of 48. The report highlighted that kitchen fires remained a focus, with 59% of incidents starting in that room. Lone occupiers and lone parents accounted for 45.8% of all incidents, and the 'Eyes Wide Open' programme¹ was engaging with agencies to increase referrals for Home Fire Safety Visits (HFSVs). There had been a significant increase in secondary fires², with more than double the number of incidents compared to the same period last year. The report linked this to the dry, warm weather. Rubbish and refuse were the top fuel source, with vegetation-related fires also contributing. 92% of secondary fires were deliberate, with the peak time between 4-9 pm. Home Fire Safety Visits (HFSVs) were above target, with 4,604 visits delivered. 99.1% of Home Fire Safety Visits were targeted, exceeding the Community Risk Management Plan target of 80%. The targeting methodology had been improved through the integration of Durham County Council data, and progress was being made to obtain the same datasets from Darlington Borough Council.

Protection: There were 47 primary fires³ in non-domestic premises, exceeding the target of 32. 11 incidents occurred in prisons, all deliberately set. The Director of Community Risk Management was leading national work to reduce prison fires, and the service was collaborating with Cleveland Fire Brigade to offer an intervention package called 'Fire-P' to Deerbolt and Holme House prisons. These prisons would also be the first in the North East to introduce anti-tamper vapes. False alarms caused by automatic fire detection equipment were down, with 125 incidents compared to a target of 158. The service issued 34 first activation letters and 14 invoices for cost recovery, totalling £5,860. The service did not attend 205 calls to Fire Control between 0800 – 1800 hours for automatic fire alarms, due to the approach to mobilisation.

The number of fire safety audits was above target, with 582 audits delivered. 51.3% of audits were unsatisfactory, indicating that the service was targeting the correct premises.

Response: There were 329 primary fires, exceeding the target of 266. Just over half were set deliberately. 44.1% of primary fires were vehicle fires, with the majority being set deliberately. There was a significant increase in fires categorised as 'grassland, woodland and crops', linked to the dry weather.

Response time performance was mixed. 71.8% of dwelling fires were attended within 8 minutes, exceeding the 70% target. 67.6% of non-domestic fires were attended within 9 minutes, below the 70% target, and affected by incidents at Deerbolt prison. 68.8% of road traffic collisions were attended within 10 minutes, below the 70% target.

Availability of on-call appliances was 72.1%, against a target of 75%. A trial had started with a change to booking off times for dual contract wholetime/RDS staff, and a recruitment campaign had begun.

Health and Safety: There was one accident to personnel during the quarter, below the target of two. There were seven service contributory vehicle accidents, exceeding the target of three. Four of the accidents occurred during low-speed appliance manoeuvres.

Performance Report Quarter Four 2024/25

The committee reviewed the Performance Report for Quarter Four 2024/25, which provided a summary of the organisation's performance at the end of the financial year. 57.7% of the strategic performance indicators met or exceeded their target level, while 51.1% either maintained or improved when compared to performance last year.

Prevention: Councillors noted that there had been three deaths arising from accidental fires in dwellings, against a target of zero. One incident occurred in January in Bishop Auckland, caused by a chip pan in the kitchen. A targeted hot-strike campaign was implemented, visiting properties within a 300-metre radius of the incident.

Accidental dwelling fires totalled 180, significantly lower than the annual target of 201. Darlington accounted for the highest number of incidents. Most fires originated in the kitchen, with cooking appliances involved in 20 cases. 12 of the affected properties did not have a working smoke alarm at the time of the fire.

There were 15 hospitalisations resulting from accidental dwelling fires, exactly meeting the annual target.

Secondary fires totalled 2,526, which was 9.3% under target but 13.9% worse compared to the previous year. Rubbish and refuse was the top fuel source, with 57% of all secondary fires. 94% of all secondary fires were deliberately set. The highest number of incidents occurred in Peterlee, Darlington and High Handenhold.

A total of 18,282 domestic premises had been visited over the last 12 months, with a Home Fire Safety Visit delivered. The targeting methodology had been significantly improved through the integration of Durham County Council data.

97.9% of Home Fire Safety Visits were targeted, compared to the Community Risk Management Plan target of 80%.

Protection: There were 144 primary fires in non-domestic premises, compared to a target of 101. This was heavily influenced by 53 fires in prisons, with 50 of these being set deliberately. The service does not have legislative responsibility for prisons but continues to work with these establishments. There were plans to implement new anti-tamper vapes in 2025/26.

False alarms caused by automatic fire detection equipment totalled 627, which was 80 under the target of 707. 55.3% of all incidents were in education, residential homes, retail and industrial manufacturing premises. 53.4% of all incidents were linked to system faults and 25.2% were caused by human intervention. During the year, £22,988 had been recovered from premises with high activation numbers.

2,075 Fire Safety Audits had been delivered, over the target of 2,028. 47.5% of audits completed were unsatisfactory. During the year, the service served five Enforcement Notices, 28 Prohibition Notices and successfully prosecuted one responsible person.

Response: There were 1,041 primary fires, which was 9.1% over the target of 954. 56.7% of all primary fires were set deliberately. 49.5% of primary fires were vehicle fires, with the majority being set deliberately. Peterlee station area continued to be the highest across the service area for vehicle fires.

Only one out of the three response standards achieved their 70% performance target. Response time performance when attending dwelling fires within 8 minutes on 70% of occasions was 64.4%. Response time performance when attending non-domestic fires within 9 minutes on 70% of occasions was 60.7%. Response time performance when attending road traffic collisions within 10 minutes on 70% of occasions was 73.5%.

Availability of on-call appliances was 73.0% against its target of 75%.

Health and Safety: There were thirteen accidents to personnel, which was five over the target of eight. There were sixteen service contributory vehicle accidents, two under the target of 18.

Letters of Appreciation

The committee considered the report on letters of appreciation received by the service between 1 January and 31 March 2025, and between 1 April and 30 June 2025.

10 letters were received between 1 January and 31 March 2025, including:

• A thank you to the service, in particular K Blackburn, for helping to deliver Christmas Gifts to 750 children for the Silent Santa Appeal, from Councillor Gerald Lee.
• Thanks to Consett Red Watch from Mrs Gray, who rang to express her gratitude to Crew Manager Mark Bryden and crew for replacing defective smoke alarms.
• A compliment from Lynda Gettings on behalf of Light Up Lytham, for Consett Red Watch attending their event.
• Thanks to Durham Red Watch for handing out sweets and smoke alarm information in Durham city centre on Random Acts of Kindness Day.
• Thanks to Consett Green Watch for their kindness and care to a child who had trapped his finger in a cup.
• Thanks from the family of a 10-year-old Beagle to Spennymoor & Durham Red Watches, who rescued their dog from a house fire in Sunderland Bridge in Croxdale.
• Thanks to Peterlee Crew who attended a flooding incident at a property on Rutherford View in Easington Colliery.
• Thanks to Consett Crew and Control who attended an electrical incident at a home on Rosemary Close.
• A compliment for Green watch crews from Durham, Spennymoor, and Newton Aycliffe who attended an incident in Shincliffe, Durham.
• A compliment from Nick Wright of North East Ambulance Service to Darlington White Watch, who were massively helpful in extracting a patient in a difficult location.

3 letters were received between 1 April and 30 June 2025, including:

• Thanks to Spennymoor Red Watch who came to the aid of an elderly woman who had fallen at home.
• Thanks to Bishop Auckland Crews who rescued a Labrador pup, Nellie, who had put her head through a wrought iron gate.
• Thanks to Darlington Crews who were called out to help after a resident suffered a fall at home.

Previous Minutes

The committee approved the minutes of the previous meeting held on 6 March 2025, with an amendment to correct the name of Councillor Andrew Anderson.