Firefighters missing time target for potentially deadly 999 calls

Crews are supposed to get to at least 80 per cent of serious incidents within six minutes, but figures show this time is regularly exceeded in all areas of the county.

During the last financial year, the target was missed by more than 20 per cent, with just under 57 per cent of serious callouts attended within a six-minute timeframe.

In the South Yorkshire brigade's Annual Corporate Report for 2009/10 the performance is labelled "poor" but chief officers say the target is self-imposed and is very tough.

In the report, senior firefighters say: "The target of attending 80 per cent of life threatening incidents within six minutes has not been met at any time throughout the year.

"South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue has one of the most challenging response times in the country. We are continuing to seek further improvements."

The report grades the organisation's performance on 20 "key delivery objectives", which include the number of fire deaths, arson incidents, traffic accidents, and false alarms.

Senior officers rate their service as excellent under nine headings, but five are given a poor assessment while two are good, three show no data and one is marked caution.

The statistics show the service is achieving significant progress in some areas, with fire deaths down 41 per cent, accidental fires down 10 per cent and false alarms reduced.

The report says: "There were 81 fire-related deaths and injuries during 2009/10, which was well within the target 153. The number of deaths and injuries in house fires fell dramatically.

"The number of dwelling fires in 2009/10 was well within the target and there has been sustained improvement compared to the previous year. We are the best performing metropolitan service for this indicator."

As well as response times, concerns are also raised about the number of retained fire appliances which are available at any one time, with almost half out of action because of a lack of staff.

Fire chiefs had set a target of having 67.5 per cent of all retained or "on call" fire appliances available at all times, but the figures show this was missed by more than 10 per cent.

In fact just 57.27 per cent of retained appliances were available and the report says: "On call support and systems have been reviewed and several areas for improvement have been identified."

Targets are also being missed on the number of staff taking days off sick, the number of people involved in accidents and work and numbers of employees leaving the organisation within 12 months of their appointment.

The report will be examined by members of the South Yorkshire Fire Authority, which oversees the work of the brigade, at a meeting to be held in Barnsley next Monday.

It is expected that members will also be updated on the implications of coalition Government cuts, which chief fire officer Mark Smitherman has warned could put lives at risk.

Mr Smitherman made his comments earlier this month adding that he already ran an "extremely efficient organisation" which could not stand further cuts from Westminster.

A South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue spokesman said: "We believe our current emergency response target time is, overall, the most challenging in the country.

"We have been unable to achieve this target despite significant effort, but our efforts ensure that we are doing everything we can to respond as quickly and effectively as possible and our actual performance is one of the best in the country."