Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service is committed to protecting our communities by understanding and reducing risk. More than 1.1 million people rely on us, and they rightly expect a well-planned and coordinated service.
Governed by the Fire Authority (FA), we ensure public accountability and strategic oversight. Our Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) outlines how we assess and mitigate risks using data, audits, and feedback, ensuring we target our resources effectively.
A priority for the CRMP is that we maintain a speed and weight of attack based on risk and demand. Our average response time in 2022/23 was 5 minutes 44 seconds, which was an improvement from the 2021/2022 time of 5 minutes 53 seconds. This average is across all incident types.
Tyne and Wear’s diverse communities face unique challenges, including some of the highest levels of deprivation in the country. This plan reflects our commitment to adapting to emerging risks, working with partners, and continually improving our service.
Why We Are Here
The dedication and commitment of our employees have saved countless lives across our region. Together, we save lives, reduce risk, provide humanitarian services, and protect the environment.
To achieve our vision “Creating the Safest Community” we will deliver the following key services:
- Prevention – Raising awareness of fire and emergency risks, focusing on the most vulnerable through education and early intervention.
- Protection – Enforcing fire safety regulations to ensure buildings and occupants are as safe as possible.
- Response – Deploying highly trained staff with the best equipment to handle emergencies effectively.
- Resilience – Managing major incidents while maintaining essential services and collaborating with partner agencies.
Who We Serve
Tyne and Wear is a densely populated metropolitan area in the North East of England, home to 1.1 million residents across nearly 500,000 households. Though covering just 6% of the region’s land (538 km²), it holds 43% of the population.
The area includes five local authorities—Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, and Sunderland—bordering Northumberland to the north and Durham to the south.
With an international airport, two major cities, three universities, and significant retail and sporting facilities, Tyne and Wear is a key regional hub. While its economy has shifted from heavy industry to a more diverse mix, it still contains high-risk industrial sites under Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) regulations 2015.
The region faces social challenges, including high unemployment, smoking-related mortality, alcohol and drug-related hospital admissions, obesity, and antisocial behaviour rates—all among the highest in England.
Understanding Risk
At Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service (TWFRS), ensuring the safety and well-being of our communities is at the heart of everything we do. We take a proactive, data-driven approach to identifying and managing risks, ensuring we are prepared to respond effectively to emergencies.
How We Assess Risk
We use a targeted approach to risk identification through horizon scanning and collaboration with regional and national partners. By analysing historical and real-time data, we assess risks, anticipate threats, and develop strategies to mitigate their impact.
Our assessment process includes:
- Community Risk Profile (CRP): A data-driven analysis of risks across Tyne and Wear.
- Community Risk Register (CRR): A risk register based on national and regional data produced by the Northumbria Local Resilience Forum (NLRF).
- Modelling & Forecasting: Using tools like the Community Fire Risk Management Information System (CFRMIS) to track incident patterns and predict future risks.
- Compliance with Civil Contingencies Act 2004: As a Category 1 responder, we plan for emergencies and report regularly to the Northumbria Local Resilience Forum (NLRF).
Foreseeable Risks
The National Risk Register (NRR) categorises key threats, including:
- Environmental: Flooding, severe weather, wildfires.
- Health Risks: COVID-19, Avian Flu, foot-and-mouth disease.
- Major Accidents: Large fires, industrial incidents, hazardous materials.
- Security & Cyber Threats: Terrorism, cyberattacks, data breaches.
The CRR refines risks specific to the wider region such as:
- Flooding risks due to river networks.
- Wildfires in rural and farmland areas.
- Cybersecurity threats in central business districts.
- Emerging industrial hazards include increased lithium-ion battery production and hydrogen energy usage.
Planning Our Resources Against Risk
To ensure effective prevention, protection, and response, we align our resources based on risk data. This includes:
- Using historical incident data (2020-2023) to model emergency response times.
- Enhancing workforce planning to address high-risk areas.
- Allocating funding strategically to ensure the best value for the community.
- Regularly reviewing and updating our Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) to reflect evolving risks.
Community Risk Management Modelling
We use risk-modelling technology to visualise high-risk areas and strategically position our resources. This allows us to:
- Identify response times and coverage gaps using historical incident data.
- Adapt our station locations and staffing levels to meet community needs.
- Simulate different emergency scenarios to ensure preparedness.
Our approach ensures that Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service is fit for the future, continuously improving our ability to protect the community from foreseeable risks.
Our People
With hundreds of dedicated professionals, we invest in our people to ensure they are skilled, adaptable, and diverse in meeting our community’s evolving needs.
Our Code of Conduct, Ethics, and Values shapes an inclusive, supportive workplace where employee well-being and safety come first. Committed to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion , we commissioned an independent cultural review (July 2023) and introduced new engagement surveys.
To diversify our workforce, we actively promote the service as an employer of choice, implementing positive action initiatives and refining recruitment strategies. Our Annual Equality Data & Gender Pay Gap Report ensures we reflect the communities we serve.
Inclusion is a priority, and our People & Organisational Development Strategy drives positive cultural change within the Service.
How are we proposing to invest in our people to mitigate risk?
- Identify and buy new state-of-the-art breathing apparatus sets to replace current models.
- Further improve our operational facilities at our Training Centre in Washington to enhance firefighter safety and support national training – and become a centre of excellence.
- Continue to diversify our workforce at all levels to ensure we reflect our whole community by enhancing the use of data to better target our audience, introducing measurable targets and raising greater awareness of wider FRS roles within minority communities.
- Improve inclusion by enhancing our understanding of how different learning styles and neurodiversity can affect development and engagement.
- Improve how we collate and use feedback from staff, stakeholders and the community, using a variety of mechanisms, including surveys, the 2023 cultural review, HMICFRS, and consultation to continuously engage with staff and improve services and employee experience.
- Continue to develop key partnerships within the region.
- Enhance our engagement strategy and materials based on feedback from the community.
Areas of Focus
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service focuses on prevention, protection, response, and resilience to keep communities safe. We conduct Safe and Well Visits, safety campaigns, and youth programmes while ensuring building compliance with fire safety inspections.
With 17 fire stations and specialised teams, we are equipped to respond effectively to emergencies. We also collaborate with local authorities and invest in technology to strengthen resilience and prepare for major incidents.
Prevention
Preventing emergencies from happening in the first place through safety, education and engagement with our communities is the most effective way to save lives.
We use data, intelligence and analysis to target our resources to those most at risk. Our prevention work is focused on four areas:
- Safety in the Home
- Safeguarding Vulnerable People
- Community Engagement
- Youth Engagement, Education and Diversionary Activities
What are our proposals for future improvements in prevention activities?
- Enhance our intelligence-led approach to continue to improve our understanding of risk and vulnerability and target our resources effectively.
- Improve data-sharing arrangements with partner agencies, to identify those most at risk.
- Increase the number of Fire Cadets branches from 4 to 5, covering each of the five local authority areas in Tyne and Wear.
- Explore opportunities to develop a new Safety Education Centre.
- Learn from our experiences, through feedback and evaluation, to continuously improve our prevention work.
Protection
There are approximately 32,000 commercial premises within Tyne and Wear, and it is our role to support compliance with fire safety legislation and mitigate any risk to communities.
How do we currently deliver our protection work?
To identify our priorities, our Risk Based Inspection Programme (RBIP) takes into account both risk and compliance of premises.
The RBIP is continually monitored, and its data analysed, utilising nine variables, including fires, injuries, Fire Safety Enforcement including Prohibition (PN’s) and Enforcement Notices (EN’s), and levels of risk and compliance within the premises to set the inspection frequencies.
In addition to commercial premises, we also cover domestic dwellings in multi-occupied premises such as blocks of flats, and it is this area which, following the Grenfell tragedy, has seen the greatest legislative changes in recent years and therefore is a primary focus for us.
Our primary focus remains education within the community, supplemented by enforcement as and when appropriate.
What are our proposals for future investment in our protection work?
We will continue to enhance safety in the commercial built environment, ensuring those responsible for such premises are compliant with the required legislation by:
- Review our RBIP to ensure we are targeting risk effectively.
- Increase frontline staff training in line with the national competency framework for fire regulators to enable an increase in resources for inspection.
- A new inspection team will look to support the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), which will be led by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The BSR team will focus on high-rise residential buildings across the region, although the scope of this may change over time.
The RBIP will be supported by a ‘hot strike’ methodology long used by operational staff following a fire. The department will look to use this method following the serving of Prohibition Notices to engage and educate the local community about a potential known risk within the area.
It is known that, in general, the built environment in the surrounding community is often similar, and therefore, there is a likelihood of others being at risk in these properties.
Response
Demand for the fire and rescue service has evolved over the years, and we continue to respond to a wide range of complex incidents, whether rescuing those in crisis, flooding, wildfire or a large-scale road traffic collision. These demands will continue to evolve, and we must adapt as we move forward.
How do we currently deliver an effective Response to emergencies?
We continuously review risk, demand and performance to ensure our resources are in the right place and that we are providing an efficient use of money.
We have previously evolved our approach to improve service delivery, namely:
- Introduced an additional fire appliance to our fleet.
- Primary staffed the Service’s two Aerial Ladder Platforms (ALPs).
- Amended the shift arrangements at two of our 17 fire stations.
We are continuing to invest in new appliances, equipment and kits to meet the changing demands on our service and ensure the safety of our staff. Our response to emergencies remains among the fastest in the country, with an average response time of five minutes 44 seconds in 2022/23.
What are our proposals to evolve our operational response?
- Introduce a Day Crewing Shift System at Wallsend Community Fire Station and reinvest the released resources efficiently and effectively by:
- Increasing our water rescue capability and resilience by having a fire boat and water rescue available at all times.
- Increasing our availability and resilience to respond to line rescue incidents, building collapses and large vehicle crashes.
- Introduce a response standard to help us monitor our performance and report back to the public.
- Continue to improve and develop our operational training facilities to support national learning (Grenfell Tower, Manchester Arena).
- Review, update and implement a new mobilising system.
Resilience
As a Category 1 responder, we need to have robust plans in place to deal with major emergencies and disruptions whilst continuing to deliver our critical services.
Nearly all serious emergencies require a ‘multi-agency’ response, and by working with our partner agencies in Tyne and Wear, we can respond with the right mix of skills, expertise, and equipment to deal with the risks we expect to face.
How are we investing in resilience at this time?
We currently provide a number of specialist capabilities, including personnel and resources, which enhance our ability to respond within our communities regionally and nationally to large-scale or critical incidents.
We currently host several National Resilience assets, including:
- Urban Search and Rescue capability
- Mass Decontamination capability
- Marauding Terrorist Attack response capability
- Hazmat detection, Identification and Monitoring capability
- High Volume Pumping capability
- Swift Water Rescue Team and Flood Response capability
- Canine Search Unit capability
- Various Tactical Advisor Capability
What are our proposals to enhance our Operational and National Response?
- Introducing an Enhanced Logistics Support (ELS) asset will enhance our capability to coordinate the deployment of multiple resources.
- Increase our collaborative training with blue light partners at our dedicated training centre, which houses our Urban Search and Rescue complex.
- Increase our collaboration with Northumberland FRS to enable an improved response to wildfire incidents.
- Enhance our Marauding Terrorist Attack capability by working in partnership with National Resilience.
- Develop our response and training for COMAH sites.
Our Finances
Our financial planning approach continues to be both flexible and robust despite all of the financial difficulties that still persist and must be managed by us.
Our financial landscape remains challenging due to the cost-of-living crisis, high inflation, higher-than-expected pay awards and inconsistent annual financial settlements. These factors make long-term financial planning difficult, especially with fluctuating dynamics outside our control.
Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS)
Our MTFS projects a balanced budget for 2023/24, achieved through careful financial management and efficiency measures. However, it also indicates a funding gap over the medium term (2023/24 to 2026/27). We remain committed to delivering value for money by directing our limited resources to the most important priorities and regularly updating the strategy to reflect the latest information and circumstances.
Revenue Budget
In the face of ongoing economic and funding uncertainties, we have balanced our 2023/24 budget while managing inflationary pressures and pay settlements. However, future years remain uncertain, as funding will depend on government policy. Despite these challenges, we have a strong track record of generating efficiencies, having saved over £25m since 2010/11.
Capital Programme
For 2023/24, our Capital Programme is valued at £14.184m, with additional projects planned for 2024/25 to 2026/27. This programme is funded primarily by our reserves and limited revenue resources. Key projects include the development of a new carbon-neutral Tri Station and the replacement of specialised vehicles and essential equipment for our firefighters.
Business Rates Funding System Review
The government’s review of the business rates funding system has been postponed, meaning that the current unfair distribution of resources will continue for another year. We are working with the government to ensure that the funding system is addressed so we can continue providing an effective and efficient service.
How We Measure Success
It is important for us to know that our approach to Community Risk Management Planning is achieving the intended outcomes. We will continue to assure and evaluate the impact of our planning and decision making, to ensure we are targeting our resources at those most at need.
We will do this through:
- Self-Review
- Peer Review
- Internal Audit
- HMICFRS Inspection
CRMP progress and impact will be reported annually to the Fire Authority and the public. Interventions and projects are evaluated using the Project Management Toolkit, and strategic decisions are assessed for transparency. Corporate de-briefs will share learnings, and all activities will be reviewed to ensure compliance with NFCC Fire Standards.
Would you like to find out more about our Community Risk Management Plan 2024-2027?