West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service has launched a public consultation to review its Emergency Response Standards.

Emergency Response Standards refer to the time it takes us to attend incidents such as fires and road traffic collisions in West Sussex.

The proposed changes will not affect the location of any fire stations or fire engines within West Sussex or change the time it takes for a fire engine to attend an incident but will bring the way the service measures its performance in line with other fire and rescue services to allow for greater transparency.

The consultation comes following a commitment made in the service’s Community Risk Management Plan 2022 – 2026 to maintain our existing Emergency Response Standards while we undertook a review.

The service has now prepared a proposed new model, drawing on a range of principles taken from the National Fire Chief’s Council Community Risk Programme and His Majesties Inspectorate for Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.

The service’s proposal would see the introduction of a service wide core measure to all critical incidents:

• 10 minutes average first appliance response time to all critical incidents
• 15 minutes average second appliance response time to all critical incidents
• 16 minutes first appliance response time to all incidents 90 percent of the time

You can review the proposals and share your views as part of the public consultation on the county council’s website until February 27.