London Fire Brigade (LFB) requires improvement by every measure it is assessed on, a watchdog has found. Some responders remain untrained for terrorist incidents, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) said.
Values and behaviors are not shown by all LFB staff and it has been slow to provide station facilities for women. The response to last week’s widespread fires was praised “but beneath the surface deeper-seated problems remain”.
Matt Parr, the inspector of HMICFRS, said: “Overall, the brigade leadership has demonstrated a clear intent to address the problems identified during our previous inspection [in 2019].
“However, we are yet to see any clear indication that this has translated into the improvements required.”
LFB response times – six minutes and 24 seconds on average in the year to 31 March 2021 – were the second fastest in the country.
However, the report said nearly half of its callouts were to false alarms and not enough was being done to reduce unnecessary callouts.
The areas which require improvement include understanding and preventing fires and other risks, making the best use of resources and ensuring fairness, and promoting diversity.
Getting the right people with the right skills, which was previously judged inadequate, still requires improvement. LFB Commissioner Andy Roe admitted that “we have a lot more to do”. He said: “We are at the start of a long journey and fundamental change in large, complex organizations take time.
“The extreme events of last week demonstrated just how capable our firefighters are even in the most challenging circumstances their priority is always to protect the people of London. The brigade needs to honor their courage and dedicated service by improving the organization for the better.
