THE Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) in Fife has exceeded its target number of Home Fire Safety Visits (HFSV) during the first quarter of this year which has contributed to a reduction in house fires encountered by the service.

The team at Lochgelly Fire Station has played its part in this and councillors have been encouraged by the stats.

Fife Councillors discussed the SFRS Fife performance report at a meeting of the council’s Safer Communities Committee and committee chair, Kenny Selbie, welcomed the report as ‘very positive news for fire safety in Fife’.

During the period 1st April to 30th June 2014; Fife carried out 1851 visits, against a target of 1250, which showed an increase of 48%.

Local Senior Officer for Fife, Iain Vincent, said, “These visits have been conducted using a direct targeted approach using local knowledge and intelligence to target the higher risk areas.

“These visits have also been conducted following self-referrals and referrals from a range of partner agencies as well as being conducted following our attendance at incidents.

“We continue to closely monitor the performance of all stations to ensure that these targets are achieved and to ensure fire safety advice and smoke alarms are available to people across all our communities.” However, Mr Vincent warned, “We can’t be complacent. Although our figures show a decrease of 30% in accidental dwelling fires and 37% in fire casualties against the same period last year, they also show that 13 of these had no smoke alarms and 10 had non-working smoke alarms, that’s over 47% of the dwelling fires we attended had no means of early warning and detection.

“We would urge every household of the need to have working smoke alarms. We provide free home fire safety visits and fit smoke alarms where required. We need people to join Scotland’s fight against fire and request a visit by calling the SFRS freephone number 0800 0731 999, or by contacting their local fire station.” Fife also saw a reduction of 28% in deliberate fires over the same period last year. This decrease is due to the excellent work that is done with a number of youths in the DiversiFIRE youth engagement programme which educates youths to the dangers of fire. In addition, the local fire crews also provided education to schools to highlight the dangers and consequences of deliberate fire setting.

And example locally of that has been the firefighters from the Lumphinnans Road station getting involved in the midnight basketball at Lochgelly High Community Use (see picture).

Mr Vincent said, “We continue to develop links with social work, NHS and other key partners with the aim of identifying people considered vulnerable to the effects of fire in order to develop joint risk reduction strategies.

“We also ensure that community fire safety messages and education relating to secondary fires are delivered prior to the spring and summer holidays. During the school holidays we tend to see an increase in fires in rubbish bins, grassland and wooded areas.

“Whilst we are attending these deliberate fires, a house fire or road traffic collision could be developing and at least one of our fire engines is unavailable. This could cost precious seconds and minutes, which could put lives in our communities at risk.” Councillor Kenny Selbie, chair of the Safer Communities Committee, echoed Mr Vincent’s comments and added, “This performance report highlights what a great job our firefighters are doing in Fife.

“Congratulations are due to all the hard working staff who often have to operate in difficult and dangerous circumstances. Their dedication and commitment should be applauded. We will continue to work together to prevent fires in Fife and keep our communities safe.”