Eleven minutes and one second – that's the average time it takes for Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue to respond to incidents, but is it fast enough?

Recent Home Office data highlights that these response times have reached a decade-long peak. However, local leadership is quick to note that their performance still surpasses that of many other primarily rural counties.

Out of the 44 fire services in England, Lincolnshire's service ranks 34th in terms of response speed, on average, processing calls within one minute and 14 seconds.

When it comes to primary fires, which pose the most significant risk to life, the response time is reduced to nine minutes and four seconds. These primary fires made up 853 of the 7,676 incidents the service tackled last year.

Also in the past year, the service responded to 315 residential fires and 298 road vehicle fires up to March.

However, a deep dive into the data from Fire England reveals that only 29% of the incidents attended were fire-related.

Another 29% pertained to emergencies like road traffic accidents. Alarmingly, an equal 29% were found to be false alarms.

There were 315 dwelling fires attended in Lincolnshire in the year to March and 298 road vehicle fires. The year 2022/23 also witnessed eight fatalities.

Fire Brigade Union leaders have attributed this significant wait time to reduced resources, noting that the firefighter staff numbers across the 44 English fire authorities has dipped by roughly 20.4% since 2010.

This translates to 35,279 firefighters in 2021, a sharp decrease from 44,307 in 2010, encompassing both full-time and on-call personnel.

Lincolnshire Assistant Chief Fire Officer Ryan Stacey refutes these concerns, underscoring that staffing levels in Lincolnshire have remained "static". He proudly points to the county's admirable performance, especially when benchmarked against other rural areas.

To frame Stacey's argument, recent Home Office statistics reveal that North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue lags as the slowest service in the nation. Notably, a massive 85% of North Yorkshire's terrain is characterised as rural or exceedingly sparse.

"We're outpacing most other predominantly rural counties in response times by effectively utilising the resources at our disposal," he stated.

County Councillor Lindsey Cawrey (Conservative), Executive for Fire & Rescue & Cultural Services, commended the Lincolnshire fire service in their efforts, but admitted that it can be difficult to find new recruits.

She said: "I'm incredibly proud of all of our firefighters and the work that they do. It is so rewarding, but not an easy role and in rural where on call firefighters need to live within five minutes of the fire station, recruitment is challenging.

"Last year, with so many field and grassland fires over the summer months across the whole country, resources were very stretched and response times will have been affected by this."

Despite these challenges, the Conservative councillor emphasised that leadership continues to support the service where possible.

She added: "As a county council we have invested in our fire service with new equipment and vehicles, and are continually recruiting for new firefighters to maintain our numbers.

"In fact, in the last year, we've had 39 new recruits that have successfully passed their training and joined our crews."

However, Richard Wright, Fire Brigades Union secretary for Lincolnshire, insisted that a response time of 11 minutes and one second just doesn't cut it.

Drawing attention to staffing reductions, particularly in part-time positions, Wright said: "I think in Lincolnshire, we've lost a number of firefighters over the years. People just haven't got the time to be available anymore.

"The reality is, some extra firefighters would make a difference."

He estimates that the service has lost between 25 and 26 firefighters over the past 10 years, leading to several fire stations operating with skeleton crews.

For instance, Gainsborough Fire Station, which once boasted a staff of 12, now manages with only 10 firefighters.

Wright also touched upon geographical hurdles, emphasising Lincolnshire's vast and "lean" landscape. This poses inherent challenges for a sparsely distributed crew aiming for prompt responses.

"We need to campaign for a better service like the one we had ten years ago. That's what people deserve," he concluded.

In response to claims made by the FBU, Lincolnshire Assistant Chief Fire Officer Steve Topham stated: "We can assure residents of Lincolnshire that our main fire stations have crews available at all time and our ability to respond to incidents remains strong.

He elaborated: "Over the last decade there has been a decrease in emergency calls in the region of 50%. Over that time we have also changed our crewing arrangements for wholetime firefighters and sought to increase the number of On Call firefighters wherever possible.

"We now have two more permanently staffed fire stations with only a small reduction in the number of personnel overall.

"We are constantly recruiting and training more On Call firefighters to make sure we have as many crews available as possible."

However, there seems to be some contention regarding the claim about the decline in emergency calls. While Topham asserts a 50% reduction, data from Fire England paints a different picture. Their records indicate that the service attended 9,921 incidents in the year concluding in March 2013, compared to 7,676 in the year ending in March 2023 — a 22% decrease.