INSPECTORS have told West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) to improve in a key area - while highlighting a number of positives about the organisation.
His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today published a report after it inspected WYFRS.
HMICFRS said WYFRS requires improvement at preventing fires and other risks.
But the watchdog also praised the service in several areas, including responding to fires and major incidents, getting the right people with the right skills, and managing performance.
When it comes to preventing fires and other risks, the report raised concerns over WYFRS safe and well visits, where firefighters or prevention officers visit residents in their homes to carry out fire risk assessments and offer advice to boost safety.
Inspectors said they found "high-risk cases" that had been waiting for one of these visits for more than five months.
The report said: "During our 2021 inspection, we found that safe and well visits weren't always carried out promptly and the quality of records was inconsistent.
"Disappointingly, we found the same issues during this inspection.
"The service has a detailed safe and well visit policy in place.
"This includes timescales, which are to contact the person within seven days, carry out a safe and well visit within 28 days and close the case within 56 days.
"However, at the time of our inspection, we found high-risk cases that had been waiting for a safe and well visit for over five months.
"The prevention visit backlog - which includes home safety checks and safe and well visits - has also increased from 839 in 2021-22 to 1,211 in 2022-23.
"We also found that records weren’t always up to date and lacked detail."
Despite this, inspectors pointed out that WYRS "works well" with a wide range of other organisations to prevent fires and other emergencies.
The report said WYFS was good at responding to fires and major incidents.
"In this inspection, we focused on how well-prepared the service is to respond to a major incident at a tall building, such as the tragedy at Grenfell Tower," it said.
"We found the service has well-developed policies and procedures in place for safely managing this type of incident."
His Majesty's Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services Michelle Skeer said: "I am pleased with the performance of WYFRS in keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks, but it needs to improve in some areas to provide a consistently good service.
"For example, the service needs to make sure that prevention activities are carried out in a timely manner to help keep people safe in the home.
"I am pleased to see that the service has made progress since our 2021 inspection.
"For example, the service has improved measures and processes that support performance management of its key business functions.
"Overall, I am pleased with WYFRS' performance and the improvements it has made since our last inspection.
"I encourage it to continue to improve in the areas we have highlighted."
Chief fire officer John Roberts said: "I continue to be incredibly proud to lead a service of dedicated colleagues who strive each and every day to deliver our ambition of making West Yorkshire safer.
"While there have been significant improvements in our prevention activities since our 2021 inspection, and our continued journey to improve has been recognised, there are still areas to develop and improve further.
"Due to our robust internal self-assessment processes, some of the interventions are already underway and we are seeing tangible changes in many areas, and we look forward to seeing the continued efforts of colleagues realised in the near future."
According to WYFRS, HMICFRS has made a number of changes since it last inspected the service in 2021 so it is "impossible to make direct comparisons between previous inspections and this report".
Councillor Darren O’Donovan, chair of the fire authority, added: "Our service has not been immune to the financial challenges faced across all public services in recent years and the real impact of this is being felt across WYFRS.
"In spite of this, the hard work and dedication of the service is reflected in this undoubtedly positive report."
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