South Wales Fire and Rescue Service recruitment drive
The '#YouCan' initiative aims to celebrate the commitment of nearly 600 on-call staff and inspire others to join.
On-call firefighters are trained professionals who respond to emergencies in their local area, often alongside other commitments.
Group Manager Darren Cleaves said: "South Wales Fire and Rescue Service employs 595 on-call firefighters who support their communities across South Wales.
"Being an on-call firefighter enables you to learn new skills which can also be used in day-to-day primary work roles.
"It's a very rewarding part-time job with fantastic career opportunities, as well as the close working alongside our other blue-light partners."
On-call firefighters must live or work near their fire station, committing to a specified number of hours each week.
As well as responding to emergencies, they attend weekly drill nights for ongoing training, educate their local communities, and carry out home safety visits.
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South Wales Argus
2 days ago
- South Wales Argus
South Wales Fire and Rescue Service recruitment drive
The '#YouCan' initiative aims to celebrate the commitment of nearly 600 on-call staff and inspire others to join. On-call firefighters are trained professionals who respond to emergencies in their local area, often alongside other commitments. Group Manager Darren Cleaves said: "South Wales Fire and Rescue Service employs 595 on-call firefighters who support their communities across South Wales. "Being an on-call firefighter enables you to learn new skills which can also be used in day-to-day primary work roles. "It's a very rewarding part-time job with fantastic career opportunities, as well as the close working alongside our other blue-light partners." On-call firefighters must live or work near their fire station, committing to a specified number of hours each week. As well as responding to emergencies, they attend weekly drill nights for ongoing training, educate their local communities, and carry out home safety visits.
South Wales Argus
22-05-2025
- South Wales Argus
South Wales Fire and Rescue Service responds to report
That's the view of Fin Monahan, chief fire officer at South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said after His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabularies and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) shared their report into the findings of an inspection they carried out of South Wales Fire and Rescue Service in November 2024. This is the first time this has been done in Wales, and used the HMICFRS inspection regime applied elsewhere in the UK. Addressing colleagues yesterday, Mr Monahan said: 'The report is a hard read. 'The main areas for us to improve in the report are understanding the risk of fire and other emergencies and protecting the public through fire regulations. 'We appreciate the feedback from colleagues that informed the report, and we thank the inspection team for the independent clarity they have given across 11 areas covering efficiency, effectiveness and people. 'I welcome this report, this is the first time we have been exposed to this deep inspection regime. Let's remember a lot of time has elapsed since the inspection. It began before my arrival and concluded during my second week in the Service; it is a snapshot in time from six months ago. Much has changed since then. 'I would like to reassure you. We have a robust plan for dealing with these recommendations in the form of our overarching strategy, which is a first for this service. It has 60 work strands and now guides the strategic plan and all other activities in this Service. We have already moved out on much of this work.' The Commissioners for South Wales FRA said they welcomed the report. 'This work builds on the earlier reports by the Chief Fire and Rescue Advisor to the Welsh government and the Fenella Morris KC review. 'This report provides a solid assessment of performance against a comprehensive range of factors that are commonly assessed against in the rest of the UK Fire and Rescue Services. We are pleased that, since the inspection in late 2024 that a considerable amount of progress has been made in addressing the recommendations in the report. 'One of the commissioners, Carl Foulkes, chairs the service improvement board which continues to monitor performance on progress and delivery every six weeks. 'We look forward to HMICFRS's revisit in the next 12-18 months and we are confident in the rate and level of progress which is being made in delivering those outcomes.' Further background information on progress on improvements being delivered is available on South Wales Fire and Rescue.
Wales Online
22-05-2025
- Wales Online
Serious concerns about whether Welsh fire service can keep people safe
Serious concerns about whether Welsh fire service can keep people safe A review of South Wales Fire and Rescue Service has found a number of causes for concern There are serious concerns about whether South Wales Fire and Rescue Service can keep people safe, an independent report has found. The most at risk are not always prioritised, it was found, and members of the public, including vulnerable people, may not be getting the support they need. The chief inspector of fire and rescue services has found a range of issues in the force from planning to personnel and risks to both staff and the public. The inspector found checks have been made at just 4.9% of the most high-risk premises in its area. Examples include a hotel that had not been inspected for risks in 10 years and a care home which had been operating for five years without any inspection. The service hadn't carried out any fire safety activity in relation to industrial premises where someone had previously died in a fire. In January 2024 there was an independent review of South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, which was damning in its findings of sexism and misogyny. You can read that report here. The Welsh Government then removed the elected members of the board and appointed four commissioners. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here. In July they asked for a full review by HM Chief Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services. In the report published on Thursday inspector Roy Wilsher said: "Sadly I have concerns about the service's performance in keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks. In particular I have concerns about the effectiveness of its strategies for making sure its activities consistently identify, prioritise, and mitigate risks for the public. Article continues below "I am also concerned that it doesn't have effective systems and processes in place to gather and record relevant and up‑to‑date risk information to help protect firefighters, the public, and property during emergencies." He has therefore taken the step of reporting a number of "causes for concern" which comes if it is determined there is a "serious, critical, or systemic shortcoming in a service's practice, policy or performance". What the review was tasked with looking at The operational service it provides to the public including the effectiveness of its prevention, protection, and response activities The service's efficiency including how well it provides value for money, allocates resources to match risk, and collaborates with other emergency services How well the service looks after its people including promoting service values and culture, training its staff, and making sure they have the skills they need, ensuring fairness and promoting What it found The length of time to get to incidents was up in 2022-23 compared to the year before Information for firefighters responding to incidents at high-risk, high-rise buildings was "limited, inaccurate, or out of date" The service hasn't evaluated its mix of crewing and duty systems for several years nor has it reviewed its response cover and can't make sure it deploys its fire engines and response staff to manage risk efficiently As of March 31, 2024, it had audited only 4.9% of the high-risk premises in its area The service needs to improve the availability of its on-call resources It doesn't consistently meet its statutory responsibility to comment on fire safety arrangements at new and altered buildings After a fire the service didn't routinely carry out post-incident fire safety inspections or audits A review of its fire cover arrangements hasn't been carried out since 2011 The service doesn't have a current risk-based inspection programme Not all 47 fire stations had community risk management plans in place In 2023-24 the service didn't attend 21.9% of automatic fire alarms Its financial plans aren't aligned with its strategic plan or departmental plans, where they exist, such as those for fleet and IT The service needs to be more effective in tackling bullying, harassment, and discrimination As a result of the cause of concern finding a number of recommendations are made. The first finding is that the service needs an up-to-date risk assessment and to "assure itself that its working practices clearly support its strategic aims". It also finds there needs to be an "effective system and process to gather and record relevant and up-to-date risk information to help protect firefighters, the public, and property during emergencies". The service doesn't have a current risk-based inspection programme meaning no clear view of the level of activity it needs in order to inspect, regulate, and enforce fire safety or how it should prioritise its day-to-day activities. The inspector found that despite all 47 fire stations needing annual community risk management plans they aren't all in place and are inconsistent when they are. Various teams in the service are involved in maintaining risk information but the inspector said "there is a lack of central oversight, which means it isn't clear how quickly the service reviews risk information". He added: "We also found little evidence of the service systematically carrying out any quality assurance. Some of the information we reviewed was limited, inaccurate, or out of date." The service told the inspector it hadn't carried out a review of its fire cover arrangements since 2011. "This means the service can't be sure that its planning assumptions, risk assessments, and fire cover arrangements are up to date, effective, and efficient," the report reads. "There is an organisational learning process in place but the service doesn't consistently follow it. We found little evidence that the service examined outcomes and used them to improve its operational response or that it always shared those outcomes across the service. "We found evidence that staff were involved in exercises to familiarise themselves with risk in their station area but these exercises weren't routinely structured and they weren't consistent throughout the service," it adds. It also found risk registers weren't specific to departments and "these included risks relating to staff health and wellbeing, and postal address updates used to underpin various key information systems". It added: "Some risks, such as staff retention, aren't listed in the registers." The report says that detail in some of the risk registers was unclear including the response to terror attacks and Covid-19. Another finding was that the service doesn't always prioritise those most at risk and different teams didn't know who was doing what, leaving vulnerable people at risk. Data provided by the service shows that as at March 31, 2024, it had audited 4.9% of the high-risk premises in its area (341 out of 6,932) and it doesn't have an automated system to prioritise inspections based on risk. "The service may be missing some high-risk premises that it needs to audit," the report warned. "We found that after a fire the service didn't routinely carry out post-incident fire safety inspections or couldn't find any records associated with three properties in which fires had occurred since 2022." The service doesn't always respond to building consultations on time. This means it doesn't consistently meet its statutory responsibility to comment on fire safety arrangements at new and altered buildings. At the time of the inspection the service attended all automatic fire alarms unless a responsible person or the alarm receiving centre confirmed that there was no fire and in In 2023-24, the service didn't attend 21.9% of automatic fire alarms. They attended 8,874 false alarms meaning they could not respond to genuine incidents. The service has said it is looking for a new policy about "unwanted signals". In 2022-23 the service's average response time to primary fires was 10 minutes and 59 seconds., which was up from 10 minutes and 32 seconds the year before. "When we analysed a sample of call logs we found some evidence of calls lasting a long time with no rationale for why this happened," the report said. It was also found information for firefighters responding to incidents at high-risk high-rise buildings "was limited, inaccurate, or out of date". "We also found that risk information about buildings was available to fire control staff on the command and control system. However it doesn't include information such as internal floor plans or tactical plans," the report reads. While it was found they had looked at risks and threats in its area the service needs to improve the way it communicates information about the significant risks in neighbouring fire and rescue services, which it might ask staff to respond to in an emergency In terms of some of the most alarming findings of the original review the inspector said service staff had limited confidence in how well it can deal with cases of bullying, harassment, or discrimination as well as grievances and discipline. It also needs to increase diversity in its workforce, the inspector said. In response to the report chief fire officer Fin Monahan said: "The report is a hard read. The main areas for us to improve in the report are understanding the risk of fire and other emergencies and protecting the public through fire regulations. Article continues below "We appreciate the feedback from colleagues that informed the report and we thank the inspection team for the independent clarity they have given across 11 areas covering efficiency, effectiveness, and people. 'I welcome this report – this is the first time we have been exposed to this deep inspection regime. Let's remember a lot of time has elapsed since the inspection. It began before my arrival and concluded during my second week in the service – it is a snapshot in time from six months ago. Much has changed since then. 'I would like to reassure you. We have a robust plan for dealing with these recommendations in the form of our overarching strategy, which is a first for this service. It has 60 work strands and now guides the strategic plan and all other activities in this service. We have already moved out on much of this work.'
