High Risk

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service identified the lifestyle contributors which contribute to the risk of accidental dwelling fires occurring based on incident data.  As a result, specific trends were noted and the Prevention Team developed interventions to further support people in the community who are identified as being high risk through the Home Fire Safety Check process.

We support vulnerable individuals through the provision of specialist interventions and equipment, to assist vulnerable individuals to lead a safer life within their own home.  We work with partners in health and social care, housing, voluntary, community and charitable organisations and a range of support agencies.

We engage with partners who have contact with vulnerable people to promote fire safety within their work and gain access to individuals to provide support and intervention.  Where a fire has resulted in a fatality the team work closely with the Fire Investigation Team to provide relevant information and identify new risk categories.

As a result of the classification of risk, sharing information with partners and understanding the full range of issues which contribute to an individual’s risk status, the team are able to act as specialists working with partners and district Prevention teams to provide integrated solutions.

Arson

Deliberate ignition is the largest single cause of fires in the country and accounts for approximately 76% of all fires attended within West Yorkshire.  Addressing the problem of arson and deliberate fire setting is a priority for the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and consequently partnerships have been established in each local authority area.

Prevention teams have developed effective partnerships with many key agencies including the police, anti- social behaviour units, housing and other local authority departments.  In addition to their extensive knowledge base, many of these partnerships provide the necessary legislative powers to enable West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service to deal with the issues that contribute to deliberate fires e.g. the securing of empty properties, removal of fly tipping and the addressing the issues of anti-social behaviour.

Deliberate fires affect communities by adversely impacting on the reputation and image of the area.  Many of those committing arson and anti-social behaviour related fires are well known to residents.  We need as much information as possible about those starting deliberate fires in the community, the more information we have the better equipped we are to take positive action against those responsible.