ASFIT achieves 51% reduction in small fires!
After many months tackling the issues of anti social fire crime in Nuneaton and Bedworth, an innovative approach to solving the problem has produced some staggering results with a reduction of 51% in small fires.
Warwickshire Fire & Rescue Service and Warwickshire Police joined forces in September 2008 to launch the Anti Social Fire Intervention Team (ASFIT). The project encompasses extending the role of the service, changing the responses to incidents and positively influencing the perceptions that young people have of the emergency services.
The scheme was created following a series of proactive youth engagement activities throughout the summer, which aimed to reduce the number of deliberate fires and associated anti social behaviour, which affects local communities in Nuneaton and Bedworth.
A fundamental part of the scheme has been to change the way the fire and rescue service responds to small fires, by allowing a team of two Firefighters and two Police Community Support Officers, with specialist fire fighting equipment to patrol high risk areas. The ASFIT team can be deployed by either the police or fire control centre, which has ensured a rapid response for each call.
Community Fire Safety Manager, Maria Smedley said:
“A reduction of 51% in small fires is a real achievement and we are extremely proud of all those who have been involved and who are responsible for making it happen. The change in the way we responded to anti social fires has been welcomed by the local community and by tackling this issue as a joint agency team, we have been able to respond quickly to deal with the anti social issues in the target areas, whilst maintaining fire cover for the purpose of responding to larger scale, more serious, incidents. In addition, we have been able to improve relationships with young people and significantly reduce acts of aggression towards our fire officers.”
Portfolio Holder for Community Protection, Councillor Richard Hobbs added:
“The results of the pilot scheme for ASFIT should be commended. To achieve a reduction of 51% in small fires is a real achievement, not just for the fire and rescue service, but also for people living within those communities affected by it. I hope now that the scheme can be developed and used as an example of best practice.”
Deputy Borough Commander (Warwickshire Police) Adrian Knight said:
“This is a fantastic result and a good example of partnership working between the Police and Fire Service. By adopting this joint approach small anti-social fires have been tackled in an appropriate manner, which in turn has helped us to re-educate offenders to help to reduce the unnecessary deployment of fire appliances.”