Fire service costs below average

Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue had to make £1 million of savings in the last financial year, despite its fire stations costing half of the country’s average to run.

The cuts came due to reduced government funding despite the county’s fire service costing the public well below average, according to its Statement of Assurance.

But Lincolnshire County Council’s executive councillor for fire and rescue Nick Worth says the service is so cost effective there won’t be cuts in this financial year and that investments into the service are being made.

The Statement of Assurance overseeing the most recent finances states that in the 12 months preceding April 2018, the service cost £30.90 per person and £38.70 per hectare of land, below the respective English averages of £35.60 per person and £150.80 per hectare.

The average cost of operating a fire station in England is just short of £1.5m. In Lincolnshire it’s just over £600,000 for its 38 stations.

That’s partly due to the large number of fire fighters in the county being retained, so they’re on call and the majority also do other jobs.

In the 2017/18 financial year it received 24,417 calls in the county and attended a further 13,126 operational incidents which includes providing assistance and first aid at road traffic accidents.

Despite being below average for costs, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue still had to make over £1 million of cuts.

The Statement of Assurance, presented to the county council, which oversees the service in the county, states: “These were delivered primarily through internal restructuring and changes to duty systems.”

Coun Worth said: “They were back office cuts to make the service more efficient.

“We are ran more efficiently than most in the country.

“I don’t see any more cuts coming other than minor efficiency savings you should always look to make and we’re still providing a quality service. We’re looking at our current fleet and the fire engines will be replaced over the next few years so you can safely say we are investing in the service.”