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Performance data 2021-2024 (https://www.dsfire.gov.uk/performance-data-2021-2024)

Performance data 2021-2024

In April 2024 the Service made changes to the way performance data was scored . This page is an archive of the performance data that was recorded between 2021 and 2024.

We collect and analyse data from our activity to produce information to help our leaders and managers make decisions. Across Devon and Somerset, these decisions directly influence the effectiveness and efficiency with which we operate, and guide and look after the people who provide our services to you.

On this page, you will find reported information on topics like the number of incidents we’ve attended, and how we’re doing against our improvement targets. If you would like further information, you can find out how to contact us on our Freedom of Information page (https://www.dsfire.gov.uk/about-us/freedom-information).

We use different systems to measure this data.

  • Vision. This is the system that our control operators use when they answer a call to identify where an incident is, and to make sure that we send the right people and equipment to help.
  • Gartan. This is the system that our firefighters use to let us know when they are available to respond to incidents. It's linked to our Vision mobilising system so that our control operators can identify which resources can be sent to an incident.
 

Measuring our response to incidents

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Our Emergency Response Standards (ERS) allow us to monitor how often we arrive within our target attendance time to dwelling fires and Road Traffic Collisions (RTC).

Our aim is for an appliance to attend dwelling fire incidents within 10 minutes of the emergency call being answered, and RTCs within 15 minutes.

The rural nature of our service area means this isn’t always going to be possible, so our target is to achieve the ERS for at least 75% of eligible incidents.

Incident data in this measure is sourced from the Vision mobilising system, and the incident type is based on our understanding at the time that the call was received and resources assigned.

Quarterly performance can be seen below (higher numbers are better).

Dwelling fires
Quarter target is 75%
January to March 2024 67.4
October to December 2023 67.3%
July to September 2023 69.3%
April to June 2023 70.8%
January to March 2023 69%
October to December 2022 68.3%
July to September 2022 70.6% 
April to June 2022 68.5%
January to March 2022 71.4% 
October to December 2021 71.9% 
July to September 2021 72.9%
April to June 2021 75.1%
Road traffic collisions
Quarter target is 75%
January to March 2024 72.8%
October to December 2023 73.8%
July to September 2023 73.7%
April to June 2023 75%
January to March 2023 72.1% 
October to December 2022 71.6%
July to September 2022 72.8%
April to June 2022 76% 
January to March 2022 76.3%
October to December 2021 78.0%
July to September 2021 78.7%
April to June 2021 80%

There are many things that can affect how long it takes us to arrive at an incident. Three elements that we can directly influence are as follows.

 

1. Availability of our resources

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We have 13 wholetime fire stations that are crewed 24/7 and 99 on-call (including volunteer) fire engines that are crewed by people that live or work in the local community and respond to a fire station when alerted by their pager. Despite our on-call and voluntary personnel's commitment, maintaining these fire engines' availability can be challenging.

To ensure that we are effectively mitigating incident risk, we aim to keep 98% of risk-prioritised fire engines available and 85% of the remaining fire engines available at all times.

Availability data is sourced from the Gartan availability system.

Performance can be seen below (higher numbers are better).

Risk-prioritised pump availability
Quarter target is 98%
January to March 2024 92.6%
October to December 2023 92.4%
July to September 2023 92.1%
April to June 2023 93%
January to March 2023 93.0%
October to December 2022 92.5%
July to September 2022 92.2%
April to June 2022 92.6%
January to March 2022 94.9%
October to December 2021 94.8%
July to September 2021 95% 
April to June 2021 96.7%
Standard pump availability
Quarter target is 85%
January to March 2024 77.4% 
October to December 2023 76.7%
July to September 2023 76.5% 
April to June 2023 76.6%
January to March 2023 77.6%
October to December 2022 75.9%
July to September 2022 75.3%
April to June 2022 75.8%
January to March 2022 76.4%
October to December 2021 75.5%
July to September 2021 76.8% 
April to June 2021 80.8% 
 

2. Call handling time

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A "call handling time" is the duration from when we answer an emergency call to when we establish where the incident is and assign the right resources.

Our emergency calls are given a call handling time target based on the type of incident and how difficult it is likely to be to identify the correct location and mobilise the right resources.

For example, a dwelling fire has a target call handling time of 90 seconds as it is likely that the caller will be able to provide an address, whereas an RTC has a target call handling time of 120 seconds as it is likely that it will take longer to establish an accurate location for the incident.

Our aim is to answer 90% of calls within the target time."

Call handling time
Quarter target is 90%
January to March 2024 86.3% (below target)
October to December 2023 86.4% (below target)
July to September 2023 86.4% (below target)
April to June 2023 88.1% (below target)
January to March 2023 89.0% (below target)
October to December 2022 89% (below target)
July to September 2022 89.1% (below target)
April to June 2022 88.6% (below target)
January to March 2022 87.9% (below target)
October to December 2021 87.3% (below target)
July to September 2021 87.3% (below target)
April to June 2021 87.7% (below target)
 

3. Turnout time

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This is the duration from when our Fire Control operatives alert resources to attend an incident, to when those resources notify Fire Control that they are mobile to the incident.

We measure wholetime and on-call turnout times separately as our wholetime crews are generally at the station or close to their appliance when they are alerted, while on-call personnel usually need to respond to the station first.

Data for this measure is sourced from the Vision mobilisation system.

Current performance can be seen below (lower numbers are better).

Wholetime turnout time
Quarter target is 90 seconds
January to March 2024 84 seconds (above target)
October to December 2023 84 seconds (above target)
July to September 2023 83 seconds (above target)
April to June 2023 92 seconds (below target)
January to March 2023 89 seconds (above target)
October to December 2022 88 seconds (above target)
July to September 2022 87 seconds (above target)
April to June 2022 87 seconds(above target)
January to March 2022 91 seconds (below target)
October to December 2021 91 seconds (below target)
July to September 2021 90 seconds (on target)
April to June 2021 88 seconds (above target)
On-call turnout time
Quarter target is 300 seconds
January to March 2024 316 seconds (below target)
October to December 2023 316 seconds (below target)
July to September 2023 315 seconds (below target)
April to June 2023 315 seconds (below target)
January to March 2023 301 seconds (below target)
October to December 2022 289 seconds (above target)
July to September 2022 286 seconds (above target)
April to June 2022 283 seconds (above target)
January to March 2022 298 seconds (above target)
October to December 2021 298 seconds (above target)
July to September 2021 295 seconds (above target)
April to June 2021 294 seconds (above target)

Monitoring incident rates and outcomes

Monitoring incident rates and outcomes (for example, were there any casualties) helps us to understand if the things we do to prevent emergencies are working. It also enables us to evaluate whether we are responding effectively when an incident does occur, to minimise the severity of the outcome.

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, our incident profile has changed so we have taken the decision to monitor incidents based on a five-year average, to try and smooth out this effect. We can assume that figures will return to pre-pandemic levels, however long-term behavioural changes resulting from the pandemic and their impact on incident levels are yet to be understood.

The incident data in this section is sourced from the Home Office National Incident Recording System.

 

Incident-based measures

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Our incident-based measures are calculated using a rate per 100,000 population. This allows us to compare our performance against other fire and rescue services. An example of how we calculate this can be seen below.

Incident-based measures calculation
Number of incidents attended  
divided by x 100,000
population figure  
 

Dwelling fires

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“Dwelling fires are fires in properties that are a place of residence, for example, places occupied by households such as houses and flats, excluding hotels or hostels and residential institutions. Dwellings also include non-permanent structures used solely as a dwelling, such as houseboats and caravans.” – gov.uk: fire-statistics-definitions.

Current performance can be seen below (lower numbers are better).

Rate of dwelling fires per 100,000 population (rolling five-year average)
Target 6% reduction over three years
As of March 2024 49.12
Compared to target rate 51.46
Status succeeding

Dwelling fire fatalities

This measure includes people that died as a direct result of a dwelling fire.

If there is a death within the reporting month, the KPI will immediately be given a status of "needs improvement".  If there is not a death within the reporting month, an assessment will be made based on the rolling 12 month-period against the five-year average.

Current performance can be seen below (lower numbers are better):

Rate of dwelling fire fatalities per 100,000 population (rolling five-year average)
Target 20% reduction over three years
Fatalities in last quarter 0
Fatalities in 12 months to March 2024 2
Compared to target  6
Status Succeeding

Dwelling fire hospitalisations

This measure includes people that were injured because of a dwelling fire and required treatment at a hospital, whether as an outpatient or inpatient.

Current performance can be seen below (lower numbers are better).

Rate of non-domestic fires per 10,000 rateable premises (rolling five-year average)
Target 3% reduction over three years
As of March 2024 Average rate over last 12 months is 4.08
Compared to target rate 4.19
Status Near target
 

Non-domestic primary fires

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Non-domestic fires are “fires in other residential or non-residential buildings. Other (institutional) residential buildings include properties such as hostels, hotels or bed and breakfasts, nursing or care homes, student halls of residence and so on. Non-residential buildings include properties such as offices, shops, factories, warehouses, restaurants, public buildings and religious buildings.” – gov.uk: fire-statistics-definitions.

Current performance can be seen below (lower numbers are better).

Rate of non-domestic fires per 10,000 rateable premises (rolling five-year average)
Target 6% reduction over three years
As of March 2024 Average rate 57.53
Compared to target rate 2.0% higher 
Status Near target

Non-domestic fire fatalities

This measure includes people that died as a direct result of a non-domestic premises fire.

If there is a death within the reporting month, the KPI will immediately be given a status of "needs improvement".  If there is not a death within the reporting month, an assessment will be made based on the rolling 12 month-period against the five-year average.

Current performance can be seen below (lower numbers are better):
 

Rate of non-domestic fire fatalities per 10,000 rateable premises (rolling five-year average)
Target 20% reduction over three years
As of March 2024 Average rate 1.00
Compared to target rate 0.0% 
Status Succeeding

Non-domestic fire hospitalisations

This measure includes people that were injured because of a non-domestic fire and required treatment at hospital, whether as an outpatient or inpatient.

Current performance can be seen below (lower numbers are better).

Rate of non-domestic fire hospitalisations per 10,000 rateable premises (rolling five-year average)
Target 3% reduction over three years
As of March 2024 Average rate 1.09
Compared to target rate 1.11
Status Succeeding
 

Other fires

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Other fires are fires in either primary** road vehicles, primary outdoor locations, or fires in non-primary outdoor locations that have casualties or five or more pumping appliances attending.

Outdoor primary locations include aircraft, boats, trains and outdoor structures such as post or telephone boxes, bridges, tunnels etc.

Current performance can be seen below (lower numbers are better).

Rate of other fires per 100,000 population (rolling five-year average)
Target 3% reduction over three years
As of March 2024 Average rate 41.5
Compared to target rate 46.03
Status Succeeding

Other fire fatalities

This measure includes people that died as a direct result of a fire that wasn't in a dwelling or non-domestic premises.

If there is a death within the reporting month, the KPI will immediately be given a status of "needs improvement". If there is not a death within the reporting month, an assessment will be made based on the rolling 12 month-period against the five-year average.

Current performance can be seen below (lower numbers are better):

Rate of other fire fatalities per 100,000 population (rolling five-year average)
Target 20% reduction over three years
As of March 2024 Average rate 2
Compared to target rate 1
Status Near target

Other fire hospitalisations

This measure includes people that were injured because of an “other fire” and required treatment at hospital, whether as an outpatient or inpatient.

Current performance can be seen below (lower numbers are better).

Rate of other fire hospitalisations per 100,000 population (rolling five-year average)
Target 15% reduction over three years
As of March 2024 Average rate 0.55
Compared to target rate 0.52
Status Near target

** “Primary fires are generally more serious fires that harm people or cause damage to property. Primary fires are defined as fires that cause damage by fire, heat or smoke and meet at least one of the following conditions: any fire that occurred in a (non-derelict) building, vehicle or (some) outdoor structures, any fire involving fatalities, casualties or rescues, any fire attended by five or more pumping appliances.” – gov.uk: fire-statistics-definitions.

 

Secondary fires

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“Secondary fires are generally small outdoor fires, not involving people or property. These include refuse fires, grassland fires and fires in derelict buildings or vehicles unless these fires involved casualties or rescues, or five or more pumping appliances attended, in which case they become primary other outdoor fires.” - gov.uk: fire-statistics-definitions.

Current performance can be seen below (lower numbers are better).

Rate of secondary fires per 100,000 population (rolling five-year average)
Target 2.0% reduction over three years
As of March 2024 Average rate 88.57
Compared to target rate 90.62
Status Succeeding
 

Deliberate fires

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“Deliberate fires include those where the motive for the fire was ‘thought to be’ or ‘suspected to be’ deliberate. This includes fires to an individual’s own property, others’ property or property of an unknown owner. Despite deliberate fire records including arson, deliberate fires are not the same as arson. Arson is defined under the Criminal Damage Act of 1971 as ‘an act of attempting to destroy or damage property, and/or in doing so, to endanger life’.” - gov.uk: fire-statistics-definitions

Current performance can be seen below (lower numbers are better).

Rate of other fire hospitalisations per 100,000 population (rolling five-year average)
Target 2.0% reduction over three years
As of March 2024 Average rate 71.21
Compared to target rate 80.29
Status Succeeding
 

Road Traffic Collisions (RTCs)

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RTCs attended including those that resulted in a fire.

Current performance can be seen below (lower numbers are better).

Rate of RTCs per 100,000 population (rolling five-year average)
Target 2.0% reduction over three years
As of March 2024 Average rate 43.67
Compared to target rate 44.72
Status Succeeding
 

Unwanted fire alarm signals in non-domestic premises

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Unwanted fire alarm signals are incidents that we attend where an automatic alarm has been activated due to a cause other than fire. For example, poor maintenance, system fault and more.

Current performance can be seen below (lower numbers are better).

Rate of non-domestic unwanted fire alarm signals per 10,000 rateable premises 
Target 2.0% reduction over three years
As of March 2024 Average rate 278.43
Compared to target rate 246.03
Status Needs improvement
 

Unwanted fire alarm signals in dwellings

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Unwanted fire alarm signals are incidents that we attend where an automatic alarm has activated due to a cause other than fire. For example, poor maintenance, system fault and so on.

Current performance can be seen below (lower numbers are better).

Rate of dwelling unwanted fire alarm signals per 100,000 population (rolling five-year average)
Target 2.0% reduction over three years
As of March 2024 Average rate 144.2
Compared to target rate 123.53
Status Needs improvement
 

Status explanations

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Succeeding – on or better than target.
Near target – less than ten percent away from meeting the target.
 


Source URL: https://www.dsfire.gov.uk/performance-data-2021-2024

List of links present in page
  1. https://www.dsfire.gov.uk/performance-data-2021-2024
  2. https://www.dsfire.gov.uk/about-us/freedom-information