The 11th annual conference on fire-related research and developments organised by the Fire Service College took place on November 15-16 in association with the IFE. The conference attracted a range of presenters and delegates from both the UK and further afield, welcoming participants also from the US, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands

THE CONFERENCE STARTED WITH A presentation by CFO Paul Young, Devon, who along with his counterpart Clive Kemp of Somerset, prepared an overview of the planning and procedures associated with combining their two organisations into a new single fire and rescue service.

The new service is due to be in place by April 2007. Paul’s presentation highlighted the range of stakeholder interactions and issues involved in seeking endorsement and engagement with colleagues within, across and beyond the Fire Service. “You have to be immersed in politics to be an effective Chief” he commented in outlining the business, financial, staffing and industrial relations dimensions involved.

Combining Fire and Rescue Services

The presentation was entitled ‘The Future of the Fire and Rescue Services?’ to highlight Paul’s argument that the future will involve bigger and fewer fire and rescue services. He reviewed the history of change which has seen a decline in the number of fire services in the UK since 1938, with each change agenda historically having been driven by central government’s desire to change local government with a knock on effect to the Fire Service.

Now, he said, it is time for the FRS to decide itself what is in its best interest. The lessons learned from his experience include the importance of developing a business case supported by central government funding, progressing such projects quickly and communicating effectively with all interested parties.

Technical and Engineering Developments

Research into fire data and patterns were presented by colleagues from Nibra (the Netherlands Institute for Fire Service and Disaster Management) and the new fire research facility at Eastern Kentucky University, USA. This session included a presentation by Detector Technologies Limited on the use of video smoke detection technology in developing a fire detection system. The results enable alarm information to reduce response times, provide a greater immediate understanding of the size and nature of the fire, and more quickly determine the most appropriate response.

Karl Wallasch of Hoare Lee Engineering discussed the results of his research into smoke movement in hospital corridors. His presentation highlighted the importance of taking account not only of building design and the behaviour of smoke, but also the particular vulnerability of inhabitants of hospitals in terms of the limited mobility of patients, staffpatient ratios and the unfamiliarity of such environments to many users.

Human Factors Research

A series of presentations focused on studies of human factors among first responders and also members of the public subjected to fire environments. Chris Ide, a consultant physician in occupational medicine, presented the results of routine ‘over-40’ screening examinations on wholetime firefighters, concluding that routine screening medical exams make very little contribution to identifying those more likely to take ill-health retirement. Chris drew on his amusing and informative presentation style to get his messages across. Rene Nevola, technical adviser and principal physiologist at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) presented research looking into ways to measure the health/performance status of first responders and thereby inform strategies to effectively mitigate the risk of injury. Rene’s work built on previous presentations at this conference which have identified the demands on firefighters, developed training to meet those demands and highlighted managing the demands. Now his work focuses on monitoring those demands. Tracey Navei of Honeywell Building Solutions provided an analysis of the behaviour of people in responding to fire alarms and evacuation messages. Her research is providing useful insight into decision making processes during evacuations and in relation to different types of alarm cue and evacuation messages.

The conference included presentations from other organisations beyond the FRS in order to share lessons, experiences and best practice. Cameron March of the Royal Marines discussed the development of their Trauma Risk Management Programme which has been developed to effectively manage and mitigate the risk of stress following exposure to traumatic environments and events. He highlighted the moral and legal obligation on organisations to act and the value of a peer-based system of support. The importance of social support, personal coping strategies and humour were highlighted as further key factors making a difference to firefighters in research conducted among UK FRS by Leigh Blaney and Ged Shepherd in a joint Canada/UK research project.

Incident Command and Leadership

The continuing challenge of identifying and measuring qualities of incident commanders and leaders within the FRS was discussed in a number of sessions. Drawing on his PhD research into incident commanders, Dave Armstrong’s presentation highlighted the importance of the FRS measuring the competence and currency of its commanders through assessment and licensing.

A study presented by the Health and Safety Laboratory looking at how FRS incident commanders might be better equipped for complex operations came to similar conclusions and calls for more work into the  development of competency and assessment methods.

Attitudes to risk and safety within the context of the Fire Service’s organisational culture was the particular focus for presentations by personnel from within the UK and US fire services. Gus O’Rourke and Andy Quine (Fire Service College) challenged delegates to consider their own ‘appetite’ for risk before introducing a model they are piloting on managing incident training courses to debrief crew managers.

Bill Pessemier (International Association of Fire Chiefs) drew on his own experience of over 25 years in the fire service in arguing the need for a shift from a ‘risk-based’ to a ‘safetybased’ culture within organisations. He commented on how often we fail to learn lessons through denial, distortion and falsifying information in order to maintain cultures. The failure to learn lessons was also highlighted by Chris Naum, a retired US Fire Chief, who outlined the importance of risk management for strategic command. Phil Wilson and Chris Callow of London Fire Brigade presented a fast track approach to identifying Fire Service leaders through their targeted development programme aimed at middle managers from within the Service. They suggested their approach represents an important cultural shift for the fire service in London by loosening the previously highly structured development process for uniformed role advancement, while still maintaining underlying principles.

The ability to manage change effectively is the single most important skill needed to establish and sustain strategic success. So argued Nick Fewings, Director of the Colour Works, who discussed his work on personal and team development and a project conducted in partnership with managers in Shropshire FRS to support the effective implementation of change they are delivering.

Management and Partnership Projects

Change and development was also discussed by those conducting research focussing on regional management (Steve Hamm, Hampshire FRS) and partnership projects (Pam Donnelly, Anglia Ruskin University).

Representatives from the Greater Manchester Against Crime project (GMAC) developed the themes of a presentation delivered at last year’s conference by highlighting the role and value of partnership working in delivering safer communities. Now in its third year, their partnership business model is effectively using the police’s National Intelligence Model to identify threats, options and outcomes and performance measures against strategic targets for the reduction of crime and disorder. The centrality of an integrated approach to emergency management was stressed by CFO Paul Hayden, Hereford and Worcester, who discussed CFOA’s Management of Major Flood Events research project. This aims to produce guidance for those working on multi-agency initiatives related to flood awareness and response, both during and beyond the phase of emergency response.

Dave Neal (OSU) reinforced the importance of effective joint working in reviewing the lessons learnt from Hurricane Katrina, with particular reference to the perspective of firefighters and the workability of the Incident Command System under such challenges. He suggested that since communications regularly break down we should be planning and exercising in environments that reflect this and testing command systems in such scenarios. Stephen McKenzie (Robert Gordon University) discussed the importance of a coordinated and strategic approach to fire research and education and the need to bring together stakeholder groupings, professional registers, special interest groups, and consultancy services in order to achieve this.

An example of a fire research facility was given by Mick Kernan (FSC) who reviewed the national fire and research facility which has been developed at the college. The collection includes a national sound archive collection and photograph/film archives as well as books and documents. New technologies for disseminating information and learning were illustrated by Shepherd Ndlovu (UCLAN) who described developments in undergraduate fire education being delivered by UCLAN and discussed the issues to be considered when implementing e-portfolio technologies and processes.

Hazardous Environments and New Dimensions

The technical, managerial and social challenges presented by hazardous environments received attention in various presentations. Matthew Healy of Cranfield University discussed the purpose, function and development of radiation detection and monitoring equipment and the implications for the FRS and others procuring and using such technology. His colleague Stephanie Bloomer highlighted the sorts of environments where firefighters might encounter radioactive sources and outlined her PhD research which is looking at the most effective ways of detecting radioactive sources in urban environments My presentation discussed the importance of having policies and procedures in place for responding to firefighter fatalities and serious injuries, particularly in relation to the lessons learnt from scenarios involving multiple fatalities and the challenges posed by terrorist scenarios targeting first responders. (See pg 42  for more). And so to RE07…

Plans are already underway for another conference in 2007. The Call for Papers is issued in the New Year. Anyone interested in knowing more about this year’s events or plans for RE07 is invited to contact the Event Coordinator: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .

About the Author:

Anne Eyre PhD CTS MIEM was the recipient of the 2006 Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship Award for which she chose to explore the lessons learnt for community support after disasters, focusing on 9/11. Nationally, Anne is a member of the following: Institute of Emergency Management (MIEM - academic adviser on Executive Committee); Emergency Planning Society; UK Airlines Emergency Planning Group; British Sociological Association (founder/convenor of Disasters Study Group); Disaster Action (Joint Vice Chair). She is also an affiliate member of the Benfield Hazard Research Centre and an accredited trainer with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust. Internationally, membership includes: International Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists; Institution of Fire Engineers; International Sociological Association (Disasters Research Committee); European Sociological Association (Disasters and Social Crises Research Network).