Partnering with The Arson Task Force

Published by Kerrie Beck for Longhurst Group in Housing and also in Communities, Environment, Local Government

Friendship Care and Housing (Friendship) has just announced its latest safety initiative, a joint venture with the West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) called the Repeat Incident Project. Working in partnership with the WMFS Arson Task Force (ATF), Friendship will now be able to identify specific properties under its management to which the WMFS is repeatedly called out to.

The Project came about after WMFS identified 5,000 repeat call-outs over an eight month period across theWest Midlands. Arson remains a major fire threat inEnglandandWaleswith an overall estimated cost to the economy of £2.53 billion per annum. In the last decade there have been about 2.3 million deliberate fires resulting in 25,000 injuries and over 900 deaths. It is estimated Friendship have lost up to £40,000 in revenue as a result of such incidents at its properties and services.  

With the statistics being so concerning Friendship’s Access Centre will now work with the ATF in sharing details of the location of its homes and services (such as care homes) across the West Midlands. The ATF will then notify Friendship immediately when the service is called out repeatedly to their properties and flag up any address where it believes the resident is vulnerable or at risk.

This will help identify the specific customers or service users in question – be it because of a genuine fire risk or hoax calls – and offer the appropriate advice and support on how to reduce the risk of fire and improve safety measures, or take further action where necessary.