Kent Fire and Rescue Service
Creating a safer future – together: Risk assessment

This year we celebrate 75 years of public service. We have a proud history that began on 1 April 1948 when 'Kent Fire Brigade' was created, formerly the National Fire Service. The brigade remained part of Kent County Council until 1988, when we became the stand-alone combined fire authority for Kent and Medway. In 2003, we were renamed Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) - a reflection of our role and work.

Today, we are a forward thinking, inclusive fire and rescue service with a long and proud history. We are here every hour of every day, helping customers in their homes, places of work or education and on the roads. From working with businesses across Kent and Medway, to providing education programmes to schools, we are here for everyone.

Over the last 75 years, the variety of ways in which we help our customers has been constantly changing – evidence of our adaptability and commitment to those we serve.

75 years ago

Emerging from the Second World War, Britain was striving to rebuild its post-war future. Simultaneously, our fire and rescue service was created to serve a society that still chiefly used coal fires for domestic heating and in which smoking was the norm, heightening the risk of fire in the home. Surprisingly, although there were far fewer road vehicles and a smaller population at this time, the number of people killed on the road was more than three times that of today.

50 years ago

The risks had begun to change, solid fuel and electric fires being replaced by central heating systems, reducing one of the main potential sources of domestic fires. Cooking habits changed too – oil-filled chip plans were being replaced by oven chips, reducing the number of chip-pan fires which previously accounted for up to a fifth of all fires in the home. In 1966, road deaths peaked at some 8,000, attributable to the increase in the number of vehicles and lack of safety features such as seat belts, plus limited knowledge, and techniques for rescuing those involved in a crash. 

25 years ago

By the late 1990s, society and the risks we were facing and responding to, were very different. The compulsory wearing of front seatbelts from 1983 precipitated a decline in road deaths and fires in the home began to fall rapidly, despite the increase in the population. Changing behaviour also contributed to the reduction in fires in the home, particularly the fall in the number of smokers and traditional chip-pan frying.

Significant safety legislation also improved home fire safety, with the introduction in 1988 of specified fire resistance for furniture upholstery and materials. This was later extended to bedding and second-hand furniture, the increased use of the fire-retardant materials contributing to a decline in fire-related deaths and deaths related to smoke inhalation.

Early in the new millennium, the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 was passed. This arguably had the greatest effect in reducing the frequency of fires, by requiring fire and rescue services to focus on fire prevention and community safety work, promoting and distributing smoke alarms.

Prior to the 2004 Act, KFRS had already begun to recognise the need for, and implemented community safety initiatives pre-empting the legal requirement to focus on the promotion of fire safety.

This significant change in our work and outlook – moving from a focus on operational response to equally focusing on fire prevention work through active involvement and interventions with our customers – led to KFRS developing its Customer Safety team.

Our Customer Safety Team is dedicated to providing fire prevention and safety advice through a range of initiatives and public safety campaigns. From school visits to ‘Safe and Well’ and ‘Home Fire Safety Visits’ (offering customers fire safety checks, advice and, where appropriate, free smoke alarms), our work in this area has been a key factor in reducing fire-related deaths and injuries in the home.

This focus on preventing fires has had a huge impact. In 2001/02 there were 1,177 house fires in Kent. In 2022/23 there were 656 – a reduction of 44%.

Today

We face a very different environment and set of challenges from those of 75 years ago. To meet those challenges and continue to serve and keep our customers safe in the best possible way, it is essential that we continue to change and innovate. To do that we keep assessing the risks we currently face. That is what this document – ‘Creating a safer future – together’ – is all about.