West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority regularly engages with the communities of West Yorkshire in order to give local people the opportunity to tell us what they think about the services provided. This information helps us to provide better and more responsive services.
We have carried out a number of surveys and received feedback as follows:
The information relating to each of these surveys is given by clicking on the relevant tab below.
Our Community Risk Management Plan looks at the service we provide to you, how we plan to protect people, prevent fires and other emergencies to make West Yorkshire safer.
Our 2022/25 consultation ended and the updated Community Risk Management Plan can be found at: Your Fire & Rescue Service | West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Following the introduction of the updated integrated risk management plan (Your Fire and Rescue) a proposed change to the service was made through a public consultation.
The proposed change was communicated to affected residents and local businesses. Residents and local businesses were encouraged to make their views known via the online consultation system or through paper based forms.
The eight-week public consultation ran from 26 June to 21 August 2020 to seek views on the proposal to relocate the fire station from Cleckheaton to the Headquarters site in Birkenshaw.
The key approaches used were:
Proactive multi-channel campaign to raise awareness of the changes and encourage comments/engagement using both organic and paid for communications. Channels used include:
Proactive campaigns to the key audiences in the affected areas around specific changes eg
Reactive campaign focussing on any community concerns.
233 people completed the survey. From the responses in the survey results, WYFRS social media worked well in generating survey results with 65% having seen the consultation on Facebook. This is followed by newspaper articles and adverts (13%) and posters/leaflets distributed (9%).
Read our press release about the approval of the plans for Cleckheaton station on the newsroom.
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) feels it is essential to analyse and publicise satisfaction levels for the full range of customers for all the main areas of our service.
One of the ways through which these views are obtained is the Quality of Service Survey. Each month, a questionnaire is sent to a selection of the incidents attended in the previous month. The questionnaire is sent out by WYFRS but is returned directly to an independent research company via freepost. The returned questionnaires are processed and the information obtained is analysed with a feedback report sent to West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.
We include in our measurement of satisfaction specific questions relating to:
Below is a summary of performance results for West Yorkshire from the independent research company relating to 189 completed questionnaires for 2023/24.
Domestic (household) respondents (140 responses):
97% were very satisfied or fairly satisfied with their initial telephone contact with the Fire Service.
72% said that the Fire Service arrived at the incident quicker than expected and 22% said that the arrival time was as expected.
99% of respondents were very satisfied or fairly satisfied with the service provided at the scene and also felt that the Fire Service kept the effects of the incident to a minimum.
89% received fire safety information at the scene, in the form of general safety advice, 49% were offered a Safe and Well Visit and 38% received an advice booklet.
Overall, 98% of respondents expressed their satisfaction with the service received from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service; 91% were very satisfied.
Non-domestic respondents (49 responses):
93% were satisfied with their initial telephone contact with the Fire Service.
49% said that the Fire Service arrived at the incident quicker than expected and 43% said that the arrival time was as expected.
100% of respondents felt West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service kept the effects of the incident to a minimum.
97% of respondents were satisfied or fairly satisfied with the service provided at the scene.
65% received fire safety information at the scene, in the form of general safety advice and 28% received an advice booklet.
Overall, 100% of respondents expressed their satisfaction with the service received from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and of these 94% were very satisfied.
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service is committed to continuously improving the service it provides to the public and local communities, although there are occurrences when expectations have not been fulfilled and this has resulted in a complaint being received. All complaints are investigated and dealt with in accordance with our Complaints Policy.
The number of compliments indicates that the service provided by WYFRS to its local communities continues to meet and, at times, exceed the public’s expectations of our performance.
During the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) received 203 compliments and 38 complaints.
The reports below provide details of compliments and complaints for each of the periods 2018/19 to 2023/24.
In order to monitor performance, a follow up survey is sent out to a sample of residents who have had a Safe and Well Visit (SWV).
In the year 2023-24 a total of 473 completed responses were returned and a summary of the results is shown below:
Initial Contact
The Safe and Well Visit
Overall Service
A new Schools Talk package has been developed and visits delivering this introduced in term 3 of the 2023-24 academic year. Of the visits that took place 11 online feedback surveys were returned.
The data below was taken from the responses that have been received.
In April 2018 on behalf of West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Calderdale Council carried out an online survey with their Talkback Panel to gauge public opinion of the fire service. 354 questionnaires were returned. The responses are shown below:
Question 1: How important do you feel the fire service contribution is to the community?
| Very important to the community | Important to the community | Not important to the community | No real contribution to the community | Don’t know | |
| Frequency | 282 | 60 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Percentage | 80.3% | 17.1% | 0.3% | 1.1% | 1.1% |
Question 2: Are you aware of the different services that the fire service provides? Please tick each of the following services that you were aware are provided by the fire service:
| Responses | Percentage | |
| Firefighting | 352 | 99.7% |
| Rescues at road traffic collisions | 350 | 99.2% |
| Water rescues during floods | 338 | 95.8% |
| Search and rescue during major incidents and disasters | 307 | 87.0% |
| Rescues from high places | 303 | 85.8% |
| Rescues of animals (including domestic and farm animals) | 307 | 87.0% |
| Fire prevention advice | 340 | 96.3% |
| Safe & well visits – visits that give fire safety advice and also offer a chance to chat about such things as crime prevention, falls prevention, cold homes, smoking cessation and social isolation | 225 | 63.7% |
| School fire safety visits | 304 | 86.1% |
Question 3: From the list of services above, please state which you believe are the most important services offered by the fire service in order of priority – list as many as you think are a priority:
| Responses | Percentage | |
| Firefighting | 293 | 90.7% |
| Rescues at road traffic collisions | 230 | 71.2% |
| Water rescues during floods | 166 | 51.4% |
| Search and rescue during major incidents and disasters | 146 | 45.5% |
| Rescues from high places | 134 | 41.5% |
| Rescues of animals (including domestic and farm animals) | 124 | 38.4% |
| Fire prevention advice | 173 | 53.6% |
| Safe & well visits – visits that give fire safety advice and also offer a chance to chat about such things as crime prevention, falls prevention, cold homes, smoking cessation and social isolation | 102 | 31.6% |
| School fire safety visits | 117 | 36.2% |
| Miscellaneous/ Non-specific | 20 | 6.2% |
Question 4: WYFRS carries out a number of activities to help our communities. This includes working with partner organisations and assisting them by identifying and referring the vulnerable when they are at risk, taking part in neighbourhood forums and helping with local projects. Would you like to see the fire service take on more community activities?
| Frequency | Percentage | |
| Yes, I think that the fire service should have a key role in community activities | 217 | 61.5% |
| No, the fire service should concentrate on fire and rescue activities | 94 | 26.6% |
| Don’t know | 42 | 11.9% |
Question 5: Do you feel that WYFRS is working to make your community safer?
| Yes | No | Don’t know | |
| Frequency | 275 | 9 | 66 |
| Percentage | 78.6% | 2.6% | 18.9% |
Question 6: Do you feel you have enough information about fire safety to protect yourself, your family and your home?
| Yes | No | Don’t know | |
| Frequency | 266 | 50 | 32 |
| Percentage | 76.4% | 14.4% | 9.2% |
Question 7: Do you feel safe from fire risk?
| Yes | No | Don’t know | |
| Frequency | 297 | 27 | 27 |
| Percentage | 84.6% | 7.7% | 7.7% |
Question 8: On the whole, how satisfied are you with the services WYFRS provides?
| Very satisfied | Satisfied | Dissatisfied | Very dissatisfied | Don’t know | |
| Frequency | 213 | 109 | 2 | 4 | 20 |
| Percentage | 61.2% | 31.3% | 0.6% | 1.1% | 5.7% |
As part of the new Safer Communities Strategy, a four week public engagement exercise was undertaken from 7 February 2017 to 7 March 2017. The survey asked a series of questions relating to proposed changes to the delivery of our community safety activity.
This was delivered through a number of district engagement events and web based surveys accessed via West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service website. An additional social media campaign generated 2,355 engagements over the consultation period. In total 1,949 completed surveys were returned during the consultation period.
Also our Customer Service Guide, which can be viewed via the link below, gives information on how services are delivered and how they can be accessed.
