Fire and rescue service operational statistics: April 2020 to March 2021

These statistics relate to the fire and rescue service between April 2020 and end March 2021. The data presented here should be considered in the context of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Activity relating to Home Fire Safety Checks and fire safety talks in Schools were significantly reduced during 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic when there were periods in which social distancing rules restricted entering of homes or when schools were closed.

Fire and rescue authority personnel

• There were 2,176 fulltime equivalent staff (FTE) and 1,240 retained duty system (RDS) staff employed across the three Welsh Fire and Rescue Authority areas on 31 March 2021. This compares with 2,147 fulltime and 1,332 retained staff on 31 March 2020.
• Of the 2,176 FTE staff, over two thirds (1,454) were wholetime firefighters, a similar proportion to earlier years.

Health and safety

• During 2020-21, 8.6 shifts/days were lost per person to sickness for wholetime firefighters and 21.8 shifts/days for fire control staff.
• There were 95 injuries sustained by wholetime (including day crew) and retained duty system firefighters in the course of operational and training activities.

Operational activities

• During 2020-21 fire control handled almost 65,000 calls in Wales, a decrease of 10% on 2019-20.

Fire Safety

• In 2020-21, Welsh Fire and Rescue Authorities completed 1,162 fire safety audits in non-domestic premises. This represents 1% of known such premises in Wales.

Community fire safety

• In 2020-21 the Fire and Rescue Authorities in Wales completed over 18,000 Home Fire Safety Checks; in 82% of these at least one member of the household was identified as displaying a risk.
• In 2020-21 the Fire and Rescue Authorities completed over 6,000 Home Fire Safety Checks that also involved completion of non-fire related prevention activity. Almost 800 resulted in the Fire and Rescue Authorities making an onward referral to another organisation.
• Over 5,000 children and young people received a fire safety talk in school from the Fire and Rescue Authorities in 2020-21.