Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Community Safety
Home fire safety visits
Throughout 2023, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue have followed the direction of the National Fire Chiefs Council, and we have continued to develop our Home Fire Safety Visits.
It is important that LFR understand our highest ‘risks’ and develop support plans to ensure our resources target these risks. Local data analysis supported by work carried out at a national level has allowed us to identify factors that make individuals more likely to have a fire, accident or be injured in their homes. The following factors have been identified as a result of the data analysis:
- smoking
- hoarding
- elderly or lives alone
- reduced mobility, hearing or visual impairment
- mental health conditions
- alcohol misuse, drugs or medication dependant
- care needs
Our risk profiling uses a weighting for all the above areas, and with our internal and partner datasets we are able to identify a risk rating for all households. Individuals found to have a number of the elements identified will be determined to be a high risk.
Those identified as most at risk, through the data and through partner referrals will be targeted as a priority for Home Fire Safety Visits.
Our community safety advocates, and operational crews also support and engage with local communities with the aim of increasing the number of home fire safety visits carried out.
Our specially trained staff provide a person-centred approach to their visits. They look to provide support by focussing on the areas of high risk within the home setting. Consideration is given to:
- personal factors such as mobility issues, which may make an individual more at risk from a fire
- behavioural factors, such as smoking in the house
- the home setting such as a complex layout, multi levels
An academic research partnership with the University of Lincoln has allowed us to understand the change of demographics within the county, which has supported our profiling and targeting approach.
On average 82.5% of visits were with people considered to be in high-risk groups. As we continue to develop our approach to identify high risk households the service aims to see this percentage increase. This will ensure resources support can be focussed on those who most need it across the county. A breakdown of safe and well visits by age and ethnicity is shown below. The 65+ age category is more likely to be identified as high risk therefore it is important for the service to monitor this group to ensure it is meeting the needs of people across all ethnicities.
Household occupants receiving support by age
| Age band | Number of people | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Under 5 | 468 | 4.22% |
| 5 to 15 | 1,038 | 9.36% |
| 16 to 24 | 881 | 7.95% |
| 25 to 59 | 3,199 | 28.86% |
| 60 to 64 | 721 | 6.50% |
| 65 plus | 4,778 | 43.10% |
| Total | 11,085 | 100% |
Household occupants receiving support by ethnicity
| Ethnicity | Occupants of households | Percentage | Lincolnshire population census 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| White British | 9,759 | 88.0% | 89.2% |
| White other | 931 | 8.4% | 6.7% |
| White total | 10,690 | 96.4% | 95.9% |
| Asian or Asian British | 78 | 0.7% | 1.6% |
| Black or Black British | 66 | 0.6% | 0.6% |
| Mixed or multiple ethnic groups | 18 | 0.2% | 1.3% |
| Other ethnic groups | 140 | 1.3% | 0.6% |
| Asian, Black, mixed and other ethnic groups | 302 | 2.7% | 4.1% |
| Not stated | 93 | 0.8% | - |
| Total | 11,085 | 100% | 100% |