When I joined the Greater Manchester (U.K.) Fire Service in 1974, it was one of the busiest fire departments in the world, responding to more than 100,000 fire calls annually. I experienced “firefighter heaven,” as we always had fires to battle.

Almost every evening there were incidents that required at least four fire trucks, with fires requiring six to eight trucks every other evening. A 10-to-15-truck fire would occur every four or five nights and a 20-truck incident every couple of weeks. We were too busy going to fires to do much else. Service activities with the surrounding community were impossible.

Things pretty much stayed the same for the next 20 years, and we lived in blissful ignorance of the fact that we could make a real difference in terms of saving the public from fires by preventing them from occurring in the first place. Going to fires was fun and it was very difficult to admit that we did so to the detriment of public safety, that the job satisfaction we experienced was the result of someone's tragedy.

When I became chief officer of the Cleveland Fire Brigade in northeast England in 1997, I had the opportunity to do something about this situation. We set up a community safety division in order to make a concerted effort to get closer to the community, to actually stop fires before they started and to provide a level of service that met their needs. Initially, the resistance was immense across the brigade, but particularly among frontline firefighters who were incredibly uncomfortable with the idea of preventing fires rather than responding to them.

In many respects, their reaction was entirely understandable. Not only did going to fires make them feel good, but the public reinforced the perception on a daily basis that they were heroes, by foisting upon them explicit and implicit praise and adoration. “We joined the job to fight fires,” was the cry; “we are not social workers or teachers” was the claim; “there will be more firefighter deaths and injuries if we do prevention work and don't train” was the complaint. You can probably hear them in your own minds and even dream up other imaginative protests.

Clearly there are questions in this regard that are worth exploring. Fighting fires is exciting, so where would firefighters get that “buzz” if there were less of them to fight? Would the public continue to hold them in the same regard if there were fewer opportunities for them to save life and property? These are perfectly legitimate and reasonable questions that needed to be answered if the fire service was going to progress in a unified and collective manner to overcome these primary barriers to the new world order.

While our brigade was not alone in its need to embrace this changed philosophy, external events in the early part of this century accelerated the process. There had been several national reports that encouraged — and even demanded — change within the fire service, and there was a clear will and intent on the part of government for such change, particularly in relation to the flexibility and shape of service delivery. Put simply, the government wanted much more from their employees in exchange for a new pay deal. Following a national strike, a deal was struck that secured the desired flexibility and increased productivity, which benefited all parties. Indeed, so elementary was the resultant change that legislation followed soon after, the Fire Service Act of 2004, which articulated new statutory expectations on the service that became known euphemistically as “modernization.”

New World Order

Since the advent of modernization, the Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) has come to play an increasingly wider role in preventing unnecessary deaths and injuries from non-fire-related incidents — such as traffic accidents — an effort that has grown organically to the point where the core obligation now is to promote fire safety.

Indeed, there is a substantial expectation within society today that we have a role to play in terms of wider community involvement in order to prevent unnecessary deaths and injuries wherever they occur. To that end, there is now a National Framework document that gives each FRS greater scope and opportunity to become involved in the broader social agenda concerning fire. It is now fair to say that the intelligence we possess through this engagement is much more pronounced compared with what we had previously, and has led to a greater understanding of the root causes of our most serious fires, which often can be traced to the underlying social deprivation that exists in our highest-risk communities.

In order to produce sustained behavioral changes and bring about long-term reductions in serious domestic fires — and to also tackle the causes of many smaller nuisance fires — we had to prioritize and target those behaviors that we could use to exert the most influence over our most socially deprived communities. In other words, prevention in its purest form means bringing about behavioral and environmental changes in the places where they will have the greatest impact. After all, when you think about it, fire does discriminate. It takes the line of least resistance through any medium, and neighborhoods are no exception. It thrives in conditions of social deprivation, to the point of being symptom of underlying antisocial behavior that is fueled by alcohol, drugs, unemployment and lack of self worth. It preys on the vulnerable, because certain lifestyle choices pose an increased risk from fire, and those who make such choices are more likely to suffer its adverse effects.

But the problem we face within the FRS in tackling the cause of these fires is that we just aren't equipped to deal with these wider social issues. The further up the causation chain we go to get to the underlying social deprivation, the more help and assistance we need from other agencies and partners that are capable of helping us tackle those issues. Nevertheless, we decided that, given the trust and acceptance our firefighters enjoyed from all sections of society, we would make the very conscious move to position ourselves at the heart of the community and its residents. Helping our local authority partners to improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods offers the FRS huge scope and opportunity to reduce unnecessary fire deaths and injuries and to be an integral part of community leadership.

For example, FRS personnel spend a large proportion of their time physically present in our neighborhoods doing in-home fire-safety visits, which include the installation of smoke alarms. Some of these personnel, depending on their level of commitment, also are involved in community initiatives that bring them into contact with a wide range of people. Most have a detailed knowledge of their operating areas, particularly from an operational perspective. The combination of our physical presence throughout the community, our local knowledge, and our reputation, standing and can-do attitude makes for a formidable weapon in the battle to foster greater fire safety within the communities we serve.

The FRS certainly has used this combination to extremely good effect in reducing house fires and fire deaths over the last five years, but in order for each FRS to get much closer to zero tolerance of fire deaths, they need be working much more closely with their constituent community leaders and groups, to better understand the deprivation and social issues that surround fire. This in turn will help them more effectively generate added-value benefits that they can bring to the partnership.

That very same firefighter who only wanted to go to fires now provides a multitude of services that were outside the bounds of comprehension only a few years ago. They are involved in myriad activities with people of all ages, an experience that has enabled them to develop a rapport that lets them connect to the different groups that exist in all parts of society. The FRS has been instrumental in changing the areas it serves not only physically but also culturally, as a result improving the general well-being of all who live there. For example, healthy lifestyles are promoted to combat obesity — with firefighters as role models and firehouses providing the facilities.

The number, extent and diversity of services that firefighters now provide bear no resemblance whatsoever to what we used to consciously distribute to a less-discerning public. They have changed and so have we — beyond comprehension. But here is the surprise: those who have embraced the new model of service provision with the greatest enthusiasm are those who are the most mature in experience. As they are now at the heart of their communities, they enjoy a respect and regard they materially receive every single day, and now experience a different satisfaction than what they experienced previously, but one that is just as profound. A greatly enhanced credibility and standing permeates throughout the organization. We are everyone's buddy and are now the “go-to” service, regardless of need. More importantly, our future is secure because we are part of the community, rather than on the periphery.

Perhaps the most telling indicator of the value of this effort can be found in the fact that we now have one fire fatality every couple of years, as opposed to the 12-15 we had annually back in 1997. Traffic-related deaths have been halved in the last few years and now are the lowest per capita in the United Kingdom. Moreover, firefighter injuries have dropped dramatically. The consequences of the ongoing global recession will hit finances very hard, but the brigade will meet those challenges secure in the knowledge that our firefighters are at the heart of our community, with a sustainable framework for service delivery that truly meets not only their safety, but also their general well-being, needs.

John Doyle retired from the Cleveland (U.K.) Fire Brigade in February. He had served as its chief since 1997. A member of the fire service since 1974, he previously served in Moss Side, Manchester, and Kent. Doyle has been an active member of the Chief Fire Officers Association since 1992 and is the only U.K. member of Bruno's Baggers.