Oxfordshire County Council launches fire and rescue community risk management plan

A four-year community risk management plan (CRMP) has been launched by Oxfordshire County Council’s Fire and Rescue Service as part of its commitment to reduce dangers from fires and other emergencies.

The CRMP details priorities until 2026, divided into four categories: response, prevention, protection, and people and wellbeing. The plan’s objectives include: Becoming a more diverse workforce, targeting residents most at risk from fires and accidents, reducing risks in commercial buildings and acting when dangerous situations are found and maximising resources to provide the quickest responses to emergency calls.

Cllr Neil Fawcett, Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for community services and safety, said: “I very much support the vision and priorities in this community risk management plan. Reducing risks and assisting those who are most vulnerable reflect my ambitions to make Oxfordshire a safe place to live and work. I also applaud the ongoing determination to make our fire service a more diverse workplace, building on recent and forthcoming recruitment and awareness campaigns.”

To help shape the CRMP a three-month consultation recently took place with Oxfordshire residents and stakeholders. It received over 230 responses, including 83 through an online consultation portal, and with 149 members of staff consulted in group sessions.

Rob MacDougall, chief fire officer for Oxfordshire County Council’s Fire and Rescue Service, said: “I am proud to be launching this community risk management plan. It clearly sets out what we need to achieve over the next four years.

“We have been involved with the National Fire Chiefs Council in developing processes for creating community risk plans and this has helped us to develop our plans. I see it as a blueprint for excellence, a clear statement that everyone in the fire service is determined to make Oxfordshire even safer in the coming months and years.”

The CRMP is available on Oxfordshire County Council’s website here: https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/fire-and-public-safety/fire-and-rescue-service/about-oxfordshire-fire-and-rescue-service/community-risk-management-plan