BETTER response times, staff safety and caring for their communities — the Hampshire and Isle of Wight fire services have been praised for their response to the Covid pandemic.

As part of a national review, commissioned by the Home Secretary in August 2020, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services looked to see how fire and rescue services are responding to the Covid pandemic.

Ahead of the amalgamation of the two services, Hampshire’s and the Isle of Wight’s Fire and Rescue Services were inspected as one.

The inspection took place between October 20 and November 3 and overall inspectors said they were ‘impressed by how the service adapted and responded’ effectively to fulfil its functions, protect the public and staff wellbeing.

Chief fire officer, Neil Odin, said he was proud of how the services supported its partners and the wider community and they will continue to help, ready to assist in whatever ways they can."

He said: "We have maintained full fire and rescue cover in all corners of the county and on the Island, and have not only delivered our services, but we have reached much further to make life safer for our communities."

Initial plans were in place at the start of the pandemic to deal with major health incidents but were revised when the services understood more about the risks Covid posed and was proactive in offering support to others.

Inspectors noted the fire services helped better support Hampshire and the Island throughout the pandemic not only by doing their jobs and responding to calls, and continuing to carry out visits and fire safety audits, but by taking up other vital work in the pandemic including driving ambulances, with Isle of Wight firefighters helping in the community deliver prescriptions and Hampshire officers helping build a temporary mortuary.

To help the Island improve its resilience, two fire engines were brought over from Hampshire for crews to use and the Isle of Wight Council gave legal powers to the fire safety officers of Hampshire, so they could carry out enforcement action on the Island.

Availability of fire engines on the Island was better during the pandemic, with all engines available throughout the day — something that had never happened before — and inspectors were told it had improved as more on-call firefighters were able to respond to emergencies as they had been furloughed or were working from home.

Response times also improved on the Island due to having fewer incidents to respond to, less road traffic and the increased availability of engines.

While the firefighters remain on the frontline throughout the pandemic, inspectors saw how individual needs were tailored to in order to do their jobs but still remain safe, putting steps in place for those who are at a higher risk to Covid 19, ensuring everyone had PPE and extra IT resources, which was also able to help communication.

Inspectors said staff wellbeing was a 'clear priority' for the service, resolving problems and concerns and senior leaders encouraged staff to discuss any worries they had.

Support was put in place, which included one-to-one calls with line managers, counselling, mental health first aiders, trauma risk management services, support to balance caring arrangements and work, a bereavement guide, access to Covid testing, and access to wider wellbeing, financial and legal advice.

To be efficient and effective as possible as the pandemic continues, Inspectors said the fire services should work out how new and innovative ways of working could in introduced to secure lasting improvements; make sure all full-time firefighters are fully productive and evaluate how effective its extra activities have been.