Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
We can confirm that Essex County Fire & Rescue Service does hold the information you have requested.
Please see below the answer to your request. Questions and final response:
Question 1 – As part of the development of the fire protection design of two new schools in Chelmsford, Essex, I am conducting a sprinkler risk assessment in accordance with the tools and guidance associated with Building Bulletin 100 (Fire safety in schools). The schools in question are, The Hawthorns School and the Sir Geoff Hurst Academy. I am therefore enquiring about deliberate fires in the area and fires in local schools. The schools will be located on adjacent sites on Fox Crescent, Chelmsford, CM1 2BN.I would be grateful if you could confirm: Incidence of deliberate fires within 2 miles?0 – None in last 20 years 1 – None in last 10 years 2 – None in last 5 years 3 – One or two small fires in last 10 years 4 – One or two small fires in last 5 years 5 – Major fire in last 10 years?
We can access data from January 2018.
I can confirm that there has been at six deliberate fire incidents within 2 miles of Fox Crescent, Chelmsford, that were a major fire since the 1st January 2018 till present.
Major fire incidents are defined as ‘Rapid fire growth’ and recorded in the incident recording system as such
Question 2 - Incidence of fires in schools within 5 miles? 0 – None in last 5 years1 – One in last 5 years 2 – One or two small fires in last 3 years 3 – One or two small fires in last year 4 – Major fire in last 5 years 5 – Major fire in last 3 years? Since the 1st January 2018 to date,
I can confirm there have been no major fires at schools located within 5 miles of Fox Crescent, Chelmsford. Since the 1st January 2018 to date, there have been 12 small fire incidents at schools located within 5 miles of Fox Crescent, Chelmsford. Small/Minor fire incidents are defined as ‘No rapid fire growth’ and are recorded in the incident recording system as such.
Question 3 – I have identified that the nearest fire station is approximately 1 mile away (Chelmsford Fire Station, 102 Rainsford Lane, Chelmsford, CM1 2QR), please could you confirm this will the likely response station in the event of a fire emergency?
This is the local fire station covering the area specified, our dynamic mobilising system would locate the nearest available appliance and this appliance would be despatched to attend. This may not be an appliance from the local station as they may be unavailable due to attendance at other incidents, training etc. The likelihood that it would be the local station is accurate but not guaranteed.
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Incident and other data is published on our transparency site. Incident Data (essexfire.gov.uk) .
Please note that the response and data released to you as part of this request will be published on our website http://transparency.essex-fire.gov.uk/.
All requests will be anonymised and no personal information including contact details will be disclosed as part of this process.
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Thank you for your interest in Essex County Fire and Rescue Service, we hope this satisfies your request.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to apply for an internal review.
Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of your original email and should be sent to informationgovernance@essex-fire.gov.uk or sent to our postal address: Internal Review, System & Data Information Governance Team, Kelvedon Park, Rivenhall, Witham, Essex CM8 3HB.
Please ensure you quote the above reference number in all future communications.