A TEAM which uses data and information to help Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service improve the safety of local communities has won a national award.

The Business Intelligence team triumphed in the not-for-profit sector in the first ever Management Today Analytics in Action Awards.

The staff analyse a range of data from past incidents as well as information received from firefighters and safety advocates to help the organisation target its fire prevention work and plan changes to its emergency response service.

The work ranges from modelling changes in fire station locations to identifying trends in fires and other emergencies and ensuring home safety assessments (HSAs) are targeted to prioritise over 65s and more vulnerable members of the community.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer Mark Cashin said: “Everyone in our Service has a very clear focus on making Cheshire safer and the work of the Business Intelligence Team is key to ensuring we target our work where it can have most impact.

“I am delighted that the Cheshire team were the only fire and rescue service to be recognised in these awards.

"Data and numbers can be seen as a very dry subject but we have used analysis to both improve the safety of some of our most vulnerable residents as well as deliver our emergency response service more efficiently.”

The judges said of the entry: ".....a great, thorough and pragmatic example of insights delivered through analytics, leading to cultural change.”

The Service is responsible for protecting around a million people living in more than 450,000 homes. The targeting approach developed by the team has helped Cheshire to deliver the highest percentage of HSAs to over-65s of any fire and rescue service in the country.

Tools and techniques used by the team have also been key to a recent major review of the Service’s frontline emergency response service.

The outcomes include the building of up to five new fire stations, improving average response times and changes to some crewing systems which will help to deliver some of the £8 million savings which are needed over the next four years.