Kent Fire and Rescue Service
Creating a safer future – together: Our delivery plan 2025 to 2029

• Fire Engineers work with local building control officers to advise on planning applications relating to the conversion of retail and commercial property to residential sites.
• Work with local authorities, approved inspectors, and developers to ensure buildings are designed and maintained to reduce the likelihood of a potential fire.
• Building Safety Inspectors work with responsible persons to ensure they discharge their legal duties in terms of fire safety as prescribed by the Regulatory Reform Order (Fire Safety) 2005.
• Operational crews, Building Safety Inspectors and Customer Safety Officers undertake Risk Assessment Visits to ensure safety advice is given to residents and appropriate information is gathered ahead of incidents, enabling an effective and efficient response should that be required.
• Training and exercising with our response crews and fire control colleagues around commercial and residential properties that have been converted to residential occupancy.

• Our fire control team responds to 999 calls and mobilises appropriate fire appliances in accordance with our pre-determined attendance for a building type, or the site specific pre-determined attendance for buildings where the Risk Assessment Visit has indicated an enhanced attendance would be required for an incident.
• Our firefighters use site specific information and apply National Operational Guidance to respond effectively to incidents in converted buildings.
• We deploy our volunteer response team to support customers affected by incidents.
• We notify local authorities of incidents where customers may need rehousing due to the impact of fires or other occurrences.
• We seek specialist advice from local authority building control officers to understand the impact of fires on the structural stability of large buildings

• Develop the Dynamics database to support teams with sharing risk information by enhancing the Response Awareness Visit – Intelligence (RAV INT) process.
• Further enhance processes within the fire engineering team to maintain 100% target of responding to building consultations within 15 working days ensuring compliance with fire safety requirements.
• Review training and support for firefighters to meet the requirements of the NFCC competency framework for Building Safety.
• Renew the risk-based inspection programme using the latest data and insights, considering buildings converted from commercial use.
• Enhance the duty fire safety manager role to support firefighters with specialist knowledge through training and at incidents. 
  
• Ensure fire control colleagues understand the risks of alternative fuels, gather critical information and can give customers key safety advice.
• Create a ‘centre of excellence’ within Building Safety - increasing technical knowledge, developing a central library, and investing in advancing building safety education and knowledge.
• Enhance our business engagement to improve awareness of building safety legislation and responsibilities to responsible persons, with a focus on seldom heard groups.
• Develop innovative solutions to aid integration across prevention, Building Safety, and response, for example, the use of 3D cameras to conduct detailed building surveys.
  Collect data on fire incidents in converted buildings to identify trends and common safety risks

Colleague preparedness:

• Number of building consultations of this type received and processed in the correct timescale.
• Risk information (site specific or location notice) in date and accurate.

• ID 8 – Buildings and places: fires in the home
• ID 9 – Buildings and places – alternative fuels in the home
• ID 11 – Buildings and places – care homes and sheltered accommodation
• Fire Control Programme