Kent Fire and Rescue Service
Creating a safer future – together: Our delivery plan 2025 to 2029

• Work with organisations such as the Care Quality Commission to identify, monitor and respond to issues affecting care homes.
• Site familiarisation visits and, where needed, site specific response plans.
• Engage with care homeowners, responsible persons, and colleagues to ensure we work together effectively.
• Targeted fire safety audits as part of our risk-based inspection programme.
• Safeguarding training.

• We make sure our response is adapted to the needs of those in care homes – for example, where possible, we try to move people to places of safety in a building rather than evacuating outside to reduce the physical and emotional impact on care home residents.
• We can call on partner agencies to provide specialist care and support for any residents that have been displaced.
• Our pre-determined attendance helps us to send the right number of fire engines to the scene quickly – we need more firefighters to deal with fires in care homes as they can be large buildings and residents may have complex needs.
• After an incident we work with partner agencies to ensure there is a suitable recovery plan in place to make sure the needs of residents are met.

• Develop the Dynamics database to support teams with sharing risk information by enhancing the RAV INT process.
• Renew the risk-based inspection programme using the latest data and insights on care homes and sheltered accommodation.
• Use data analytics to prioritise inspection and prevention activity, identifying care homes with increased fire risk due to layout, age of building and other factors.
• Develop the Safer Living and Safer Care initiatives to help customers living in residential care and supported housing lead safer lives.
• Review training and support for firefighters and Building Safety officers to meet the requirements of the NFCC competency framework for Building Safety.
• Complete more response exercises in care settings to enhance firefighter awareness of risks, buildings, and customers.
• Ensure fire control colleagues understand the risks in care settings, gather risk critical information and can give customers key safety advice.
• Enhance our business engagement with care home settings to improve awareness of building safety legislation and to encourage care homes to install and maintain adequate fire safety infrastructure.
• Establish partnerships with healthcare providers and social services to ensure that vulnerable customers have access to fire safety resources and support, collaborating on creating fire safety plans for residents with special needs.
• Explore how we can use the primary authority scheme to support the care sector.
• Work with the NFCC to develop smarter connected fire detection technology for customers living in supported housing. 

Incidents:

• Fires in care homes.
• Automatic fire alarms and false alarms in care homes.
• Response times to fires in care homes.
• Evacuation of residents.

Colleague preparedness:

• Automatic fire alarms in care homes followed up with a risk assessment visit.
• Exercises in care homes.
• Site-specific risk information for care homes is current and accurate.
• Care homes visited as part of the risk-based inspection programme.
• Risk assessment visits carried out to care homes (other than those following an automatic fire alarm).

• ID 5 – Health and society: complex medical needs
• Fire Control Programme