The work of the service is split into three main categories; Prevention and Protection, which are part of the community safety portfolio, and Response. The work of these portfolios is made possible with the help and support of our support portfolios.
The Service is also required to assess the risks to the communities of Derbyshire and to plan for emergencies not just within Derbyshire but across the borders as part of a national response to emergencies.
Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service is classed as a Category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. This means we have a statutory duty to:
These activities are co-ordinated through the Derbyshire Local Resilience Forum (LRF), which aims to make sure that detailed county-wide plans are produced and maintained for dealing with major incidents and emergencies jointly with other responders, such as the police, ambulance service, county, city, borough and district councils, Environment Agency and health.
The Service takes part in regular exercises to test its own plans and also works with other agencies to test the multi-agency plans. Our joint aim within Derbyshire is to improve our capability to respond to any disruptive challenges and minimise the effects on our communities.
To find out more about the work of the Derbyshire LRF, visit their website at www.derbyshireprepared.org.uk.
We work closely with partner organisations in Derbyshire, such as the police and county council, in assessing the levels of risk for a range of potential hazards in our area. The types of hazard we are looking at cover a wide range and include the threats to human health, for example caused by a serious outbreak of a new human influenza virus, sometimes called "Pandemic Influenza". We are also assessing the likelihood of, and potential impacts associated with industrial accidents, flooding, transport accidents, the terrorist threat and serious disruption to supply of fuel, energy, communications and other essential services. There are 16 hazard categories overall and approximately 75 individual Risk Assessments to be carried out.
A Derbyshire-wide Community Risk Register has been compiled, along with supplementary registers for the nine district, borough and city council areas. The register enables the Service and partners to decide our priorities and identify the further actions required, including contingency planning.
You can view the risk registers for each area by visiting the Derbyshire Community Risk Register.
