North Yorkshire fire chief admits there is ‘work to do’ following damning report

The report was published last week by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) and graded North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (NYFRS) following an inspection last year.

It found the service had deteriorated in most areas since its last full inspection in 2018/19.

The report said NYFRS’s overall effectiveness “requires improvement” and more needs to be done to keep people safe and secure.

The inspection found that the number of available fire engines sometimes falls to below minimum levels.

It also said the way the service manages its finances is “inadequate” due to the “fragility” of the budget. It described the overall financial situation as “precarious”.

While the report was largely critical of the service provided to the public, it did praise the organisation for its fire prevention work and how it responds to major incidents.

Chief Fire Officer, Jonathan Dyson, responded to the report yesterday at a public accountability meeting for the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.

He said progress has been made since the inspection took place and tried to reassure the public that it is able to respond to incidents.

Mr Dyson said: “We’ve work to do – there’s a reflection that it’s a bad report but the service has made improvements.

“We have a back to basics approach to ensure we are building an organisation from the foundations up.

"We provide competent fire fighters and a competent response and we’ll always deliver at incidents whenever the public needs us.”

Mr Dyson was appointed by Conservative Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe in May 2022, which was after the HMICFRS inspection took place.

Commissioner Metcalfe told the meeting: “I’ve appointed a new senior leadership team and I’ve worked with the chief fire officer to implement a rigorous and ongoing programme of improvement to support this process and I will continue to hold the service to account.

"I am confident that marked improvements have already been made.

“I would like to thank staff and firefighters who continue to make communities safe and they have my full support to improve the service going forward.”