IRMP
Click here to view or download the Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) 2020 - 2024
Click here to view or download the Fire and Rescue Plan 2019 - 2024
What is an Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP)?
An IRMP is a plan that assesses fire and rescue related risk and sets out how we plan to lessen these risks to ensure we deliver the right resources at the right time, in the right place.
Why did you consult over these priorities?
All fire and rescue services in England are required to develop an Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP), and we like to ensure that ours is as open and accessible as possible, which is why we gain your views to inform the final version. We also believe this leads to a more engaged and safer Essex.
How did you come up with the seven priorities?
The seven priorities outlined in our public consultation are based on the priorities set out by the 2019 Fire and Rescue Plan - this is a document that sets our strategic direction. The IRMP is the document that details how we meet these priorities.
What are the Fire and Rescue Plan’s priorities?
Our IRMP is a response to the Fire and Rescue Plan – a document which was created in 2019 and outlines the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner’s priorities for how we deliver our service.
The priorities outlined in the Fire and Rescue Plan are:
• Help the vulnerable to stay safe
• Enhance prevention, protection and response
• Promote a positive culture in the workplace
• Develop and broaden the roles and range of activities undertaken by the Service
• Collaborate with our partners
• Be transparent, open and accessible
• Improve safety on our roads
• Make best use of our resources
Why did you update your IRMP?
Ultimately, there's a legal requirement to keep our IRMP up to date. But it's also clear that risks and demand in Essex continue to change, which means that we need to regularly review our priorities and activities so that we are more responsive to local needs.
When was the previous IRMP written and what was the outcome?
Our previous IRMP was launched in 2016 alongside a consultation which asked people to give a view on which of three possible options for the future they preferred. More than 17,000 people responded to the questions posed.
74 per cent of respondents supported the second option which outlined:
• A two per cent increase (about £1.35 on a Band D property per year) in the fire service portion of council tax and a smaller reduction in response resources than option 1. This option provides an additional £3m investment in prevention work and would result in the following operational changes:
• Removal of the second wholetime fire engines at: Orsett; Rayleigh Weir; Loughton; Frinton and Corringham;
• One Clacton wholetime fire engine changed to on-call;
• Pinzgauer appliances removed from: Manningtree; Billericay and Burnham-on-Crouch - and the Pinzgauer at Great Dunmow replaced with a fire engine; and
• Crewing system changed to on-call at: Dovercourt; South Woodham Ferrers; Great Baddow; Waltham Abbey and Great Dunmow.
Have you implemented all of the changes from the 2016 IRMP?
We are still working to implement some of these changes, the final ones being the conversion of the crewing systems from day crew to on-call at Dovercourt, Great Baddow, South Woodham Ferrers and Waltham Abbey.
It takes up to three years to fully train a firefighter, so this was always going to be a longer-term project.