Community Risk Management Plan 2026-2030 - Summary [accessible text only]

1. What this plan is and why it matters

A Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) is a legal requirement for fire and rescue services in England. It explains how we will use our people, fire stations, vehicles and specialist capabilities to reduce risk and respond to emergencies across Gloucestershire between 2026 and 2030. This summary focuses on the most important points for residents, businesses and partners.

This is a summary of Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service’s (GFRS) CRMP. A longer more detailed version is available on our website www.glosfire.gov.uk, search CRMP

2. Our mission and vision

Our Mission is

“Working together for a safer Gloucestershire”

Our Vision is to

Create a positive workplace culture that empowers and supports our people to provide the highest standard of community safety and emergency response services.

Our Workplace Charter

We recognise that our people are our greatest asset. Holding each other accountable to uphold the behaviours, ethics and values that are set out in our Workplace Charter will help us achieve a positive workplace culture.

Accountability

Consistently take accountability and responsibility for my behaviour, decisions, and actions

Be responsible for the health and safety of myself and others

Empowerment

Take responsibility for the development of myself and others

Share my ideas and vision to positively improve the Service

Dignity and Respect

Acknowledge my own unconscious bias, celebrate differences and treat people with respect

Create an environment where everyone has an equal voice, is listened to, and all perspectives are considered

Integrity

Act as a professional, with integrity. Build a trusted and respected presence within the community

Be empathetic and compassionate, offering support to those who need it

Excellence

Understand how my role contributes to the aims of the Service

Take responsibility for improving myself and others performance and always learn from my mistakes

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Bring my authentic self to work and act as a role model to my colleagues and communities

Support under represented groups and remove barriers to them joining our Service

Leadership

Communicate information to people that is clear, relevant and timely and promote two-way conversation

Recognise, challenge and educate others when I witness inappropriate behaviours

Putting Communities First

Commit to and understand my responsibility for safeguarding in my community

Take an active role in understanding my local community and its risks

3. What shapes the plan

The impact of climate change

Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of weather events, affecting fire and rescue risks such as flooding, water rescue, and wildfires. GFRS must adapt its prevention and response activities, skills, and equipment to meet these evolving challenges.

Increasing challenges for an on-call service

Recruitment and retention of on-call firefighters is becoming more difficult, GFRS relies on on-call firefighters in more rural areas. We are reviewing our on-call offer and recruitment strategies to maintain adequate fire cover and crew availability.

Local Government Reorganisation

Ongoing local government reorganisation in Gloucestershire may significantly impact GFRS. Major changes could require GFRS to establish new governance models, and reprioritise plans to enable that to happen quickly.

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS)

Recommendations from HMICFRS inspections have driven a transformation programme for GFRS. Using sector best practice and inspection findings is essential to maintain continuous improvement.

National recommendations and operational guidance

GFRS stays alert to national recommendations and operational guidance, especially following major incidents like Grenfell Tower and Manchester Arena. Embedding these changes ensures safety and alignment with best practice and regulations.

Cultural improvement

GFRS is on a cultural improvement journey, addressing historic issues of bullying and racism identified in an independent review. While progress has been made, ongoing efforts continue to ensure an inclusive, values-driven service.

Ensuring efficiency

GFRS must balance efficiency with effectiveness amid increasing public sector spending pressures. As a county council-run service, it supports council efficiency savings while striving to improve performance.

4. Gloucestershire: people, place and risk

Gloucestershire has around 662,000 residents and covers about 1,044 square miles. Most of the county is rural, but risk and incidents are concentrated in urban areas and on major transport routes.

We operate 21 fire stations and 32 pumping appliances. As the county is largely rural 16 of our stations are staffed by on‑call firefighters, which is a more efficient use of our resources in rural areas but creates challenges for availability at certain times of day. On-call firefighters respond when needed, often from home or a workplace, rather than being based full-time at a station.

Of the remaining five stations, two are staffed by wholetime firefighters, and three are staffed by a hybrid of both wholetime and on-call firefighters

How we assess risk

We assess foreseeable risks using a consistent scoring approach based on likelihood (how often incidents occur) and consequence (the potential impact on people, services, the economy and the environment). For a more detailed view of this please view the full CRMP (page 8).

5. What we do: prevention, protection and response

Prevention: working with the people of Gloucestershire to prevent fires and other emergencies.

We focus prevention activity on people and places most at risk.

This includes:

Home Fire Safety Visits and targeted prevention in higher‑risk communities.
Campaigns and education (including through SkillZONE) on fire safety, road safety and water safety.
Working with partners to support vulnerable residents and reduce wider harms for example, unintentional injury and serious violence interventions.

Protection: protecting the public, firefighters, property and the environment through fire regulation in the built environment.

We enforce fire safety legislation and work with those responsible for buildings to improve compliance and safety. This includes:

Risk-based audits and inspections of higher-risk premises.
Advice to duty holders and proportionate enforcement where needed.
A focus on residential building safety, including external wall assessment standards and new legislation requirements.
Reducing false alarms through engagement, to support efficiencies in our response through call-challenging where appropriate.

Response: delivering an effective, efficient and resilient response to emergencies.

We provide emergency and non-emergency responses across the county. This includes:

Ensuring our staff are trained to respond to fires, flooding and other emergencies.
Monitoring our availability and performance on a daily basis.
Reviewing our standards over time to ensure they remain realistic and challenging across rural and urban areas.

6. How demand is changing

Over recent years, overall incidents attended have increased, driven mainly by non‑fire incidents and false alarms, while fire incidents have generally reduced. This affects the types of skills, equipment and availability we need.

We will review our response targets and develop additional measures (including for road traffic collisions) so performance is transparent and meaningful for different audiences.

7. Our aims to 2030 (and key objectives)

Aim A: Create a highly skilled and inclusive values-driven workforce by putting people first.

Continue cultural improvement and deliver the independent review recommendations.
Develop modern training facilities and ensure competence for current and emerging risks and keep themselves and others safe.
Refresh the on‑call offer to improve recruitment, retention and availability.
Make workforce planning more data‑led to improve resilience.

Aim B: Modernise our rural response model and ensure it is fit for the future.

Review station distribution and resourcing to align with risk and demand.
Introduce flexible crewing approaches where they improve availability and efficiency.
Improve how we deploy available resources to live risks using better tools and data.
Bring in wholetime days crews at specific stations.

Aim C: Adapt skills and assets to meet evolving risks, demand and legislation.

Respond to changing vehicle technology and collision complexity.
Strengthen capability for flooding and wildfires and position equipment effectively.
Enhance protection activity to support safer buildings and comply with new requirements.
Increase the productivity of our firefighters and the number and quality of prevention activities.

Aim D: Become a greener and more efficient service, and make a difference in our communities.

Invest in fleet and equipment that improves safety and reduces environmental impact.
Support communities to be more resilient and improve quality of life.
Optimise our fire cover and realise efficiencies.
Use data and interconnected systems to improve productivity and efficiency.

Aim E: Achieve outstanding assessments and be a partner of choice

Deliver the transformation programme and achieve outstanding assessments.
Respond to the challenges and opportunities to come following local government reorganisation.
Ensure national recommendations are tracked, implemented and reported effectively.
Improve collaboration and data sharing with partners.

8. Our highest community risks and what we will do

Flooding and evacuation from water

Maintain and improve water rescue capability (boats, swift‑water teams, wading stations and specialist officer skills).
Work with partners through the Local Resilience Forum to plan, train and respond effectively.
Invest in equipment and skills to meet climate‑driven changes, including more frequent and severe flooding.

Dwelling fires

Target prevention at higher‑risk households and communities, using Home Fire Safety Visits and prevention campaigns.
Maintain a strong operational response, sharing risk information so crews can respond safely.
Prepare for emerging risks such as battery and energy storage systems in homes.

Non-residential fires

There are ongoing difficulties recruiting and retaining qualified fire safety inspectors a challenge that is sector-wide, requiring proactive and innovation recruitment strategies.
Increasingly detailed and accurate data about premises is needed, and full advantage of new software must be taken to enable effective risk assessment and enforcement.
The rise in energy storage systems introduces new risks that firefighters and protection teams must understand, requiring targeted preventative work with businesses through engagement programmes.
The pandemic has led to more flexible working practices and increased home working, resulting in fewer people using office spaces and more vacant buildings. Empty premises raise the risk of fire-related incidents in non-residential properties.

Road traffic collisions (large and small vehicles)

Work with partners on education and prevention, including younger driver interventions.
Maintain specialist rescue capability and adapt to new vehicle technologies.
Introduce clearer monitoring and targets for RTC response and outcomes.

Hazardous materials (HAZMAT)

Maintain specialist advice and equipment, including environmental protection capability.
Work with high‑risk sites and partners, including COMAH sites, to plan and train.
Improve preparedness for emerging risks such as battery energy storage systems.

Wildfires

Use prevention campaigns during high‑risk weather and work with landowners and partner agencies.
Maintain and enhance wildfire training, equipment and water supply arrangements.
Monitor the changing risk driven by hotter, drier periods and vegetation growth.

Large and small vehicles fires

The increasing number of alternatively powered and hybrid vehicles introduces new challenges for fire crews, especially as electric charging stations connect vehicles to buildings, raising risks from high voltages and complex fire scenarios.
Electric vehicle fires are more complex, with hazards such as thermal runaway, rapid fire spread, unexpected vehicle movement, and difficulties isolating electrical systems.
The county’s road network sees many large and international vehicles, which can complicate incident response due to language barriers and difficulties identifying foreign load indicators.
This requires specific training and techniques to be identified and rolled out to all relevant firefighter roles.

9. How we will deliver, measure and report progress Delivery plans and governance

Delivery plans and governance

We will use annual delivery plans and regular governance meetings to track progress, manage risk and make sure we deliver the objectives in this plan.

Performance measures

We will publish performance through a mix of key indicators, including response times, prevention and protection activity, and workforce measures. We will review indicators annually, so they stay relevant and transparent.

Transparency

We will provide public reporting through our annual Statement of Assurance which can be found on the GFRS website www.glosfire.gov.uk and in‑year reporting, accessible via county council publicly available documents.

10. How you can get involved

You can help by:

Checking smoke alarms and planning escape routes.
Using our online home fire safety checker or requesting advice.
Following us on social media for seasonal safety advice.
Taking part in consultations and sharing feedback.
If you are a local business or premises owner sign up for the business fire safety newsletter.

Find the full CRMP and supporting information on the Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service website, search CRMP.

Glossary

Term / abbreviation	Meaning
CRMP (Community Risk Management Plan)	A statutory plan that explains how a fire and rescue service will assess risk and use its people, stations, vehicles and specialist capabilities to prevent emergencies and respond effectively over a set period.
GFRS	Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service – the organisation responsible for fire prevention, protection and emergency response across Gloucestershire.
HMICFRS	His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services – the independent body that inspects fire and rescue services in England and sets expectations for improvement.
On-call firefighter	A firefighter who responds from home or work when alerted, rather than being permanently based at a fire station. On-call firefighters provide essential cover in rural areas but availability can vary during the day.
Wholetime firefighter / wholetime crewing	Firefighters who work full time and are based at a fire station, providing immediate availability for emergencies.
Pumping appliance	A standard fire engine equipped with water pumps, hoses and firefighting equipment, used for the majority of emergency responses.
Home Fire Safety Visit (HFSV)	A free visit carried out by the fire service to provide advice, fit smoke alarms where needed, and help people reduce fire risk in their homes.
SkillZONE	A Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service education facility that provides interactive safety education for children and young people, including fire, road and water safety.
Protection activity	Work carried out by the fire service to enforce fire safety law, inspect higher risk premises and support safer buildings.
Unwanted Fire Signals (false alarms)	Automatic fire alarm activations where no fire is present, which can place avoidable demand on emergency response resources.
Road Traffic Collision (RTC)	An incident involving vehicles on the road that requires an emergency service response, including rescue and casualty care.
HAZMAT (Hazardous materials)	Incidents involving dangerous substances that may pose a risk to people, property or the environment and require specialist advice and equipment.
COMAH site	Control of Major Accident Hazards site – an industrial site regulated because it stores or uses large quantities of hazardous substances.
Local Resilience Forum (LRF)	A multi agency partnership that plans and coordinates responses to major emergencies, such as flooding, involving emergency services and partner organisations.
Water rescue / swift water rescue	Specialist techniques, training and equipment used to rescue people from flooding, involving emergency services and partner organisations.
Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)	Systems that store electrical energy in batteries, increasingly used in homes and industry, which can present new and emerging fire risks.
Statement of Assurance	An annual public report that explains how the fire and rescue service is governed, how it manages risk, and how it performs against its priorities.
Local Government Reorganisation (LGR)	Changes to local authority structures and governance arrangements that may affect how public services, including fire and rescue, are overseen.

Version 1 - July 2026