Desired outcome
A fire and rescue service that educates its communities to adopt safer behaviours, improving their safety, health and wellbeing. One that reduces Community related risks identified through its Community risk management planning. It reduces incidents through delivering evidence-based, effective, efficient and targeted prevention activities which are accessible and inclusive.
A service with a learning and sharing culture, working collaboratively with Others where appropriate, seeking to improve and innovate prevention activities. One that contributes to a more consistent national approach to reducing risk and keeping communities safe.
Activity
Service Delivery
Business Area(s)
Prevention
- Date approved
- Date issued
- next review
- Reference number
- FSD-PRE01
What is required to meet the fire standard
A fire and rescue service must:
- identify those who are most at risk in its Community and target prevention activities in an inclusive way, through its Community risk management planning;
- aligned with its CRMP, develop a Prevention Strategy and plan with the flexibility to proactively respond and adapt to the changing needs of its Community , and for this to be supported by a named lead for prevention from within the service;
- adopt a Person-Centred Approach that places the individual and the Community it serves at the core of its prevention activity;
- recruit, train, and develop employees and volunteers, working with Others where relevant, to establish and maintain a competent and professional prevention workforce. This includes being qualified in accordance with relevant legislation and requirements for example Safeguarding and Home Fire Safety Visits;
- optimise resources to proactively engage and educate the Community it serves, working collaboratively with Others as and when appropriate;
- demonstrate inclusivity by recognising the diversity of its Community and providing Equality of Access ;
- utilise and share accurate and consistent data and intelligence across teams, from a variety of sources to support evidence-based decision making and the deployment of appropriate resources for prevention activities;
- demonstrate how it monitors and evaluates the effectiveness and efficiency of its prevention activity;
- generate a culture which embraces national and organisational learning allowing it to identify and capture feedback from a range of sources; reflect, share and act upon it to drive innovation and continuous improvement and enhance future performance.
To support this Fire Standard, a fire and rescue service should:
- quality assure the delivery of prevention activities;
- contribute to the continual improvement of prevention activities coordinated through the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) network; and
- contribute and support national campaigns, where appropriate
Expected benefits of achieving the fire standard
- Improved safety, health and wellbeing of communities leading to a reduction in incidents, injuries, serious injuries and fatalities.
- Improved competency in the prevention workforce, including employees and volunteers.
- Improved efficiency and effectiveness of prevention activities through the use of evaluation.
- Increased awareness of existing and emerging risks through Community engagement and organisational learning.
Legal requirements or mandatory duties
It is recognised that fire and rescue services must comply with a broad list of legislation to undertake their duties. This Fire Standard reflects only the most appropriate legislation to this topic and should not be regarded as exhaustive. Much of the legislation that relates to this Fire Standard can be found on the webpage that describes legislation which applies to all Fire Standards.
- The Road Traffic Act, Section 39
- Home Safety Act
- Housing Act
- Children’s Act
- Working Together to Safeguard Children
- Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act and the Protection of Freedoms Act
- United Nations Human Rights Convention on the Rights of the Child
- Mental Capacity Act and Mental Health Act
- Police & Crime Act
- Modern Slavery Act
- Crime and Disorder Act
- Counter Terrorism and Security Act
- The Care Act
- Homelessness Reduction Act
- Anti-social Behaviour Crime & Policing Act
- Serious Violence Duty
- The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions) Order
Linked qualifications, accreditations or fire standards
Other Fire Standards:
- Leading and Developing People Fire Standard
- Data Management Fire Standard
- Communication and Engagement Fire Standard
Linked Qualifications or Accreditations:
Guidance and supporting information
- StayWise
- NFCC Children and Young People Guidance
- NFCC Person Centred Framework
- Standard Data Requirement Person Centred Framework
- Safeguarding guidance for Adults, Children and Young People
- Safeguarding Self-Assessment Toolkit – NFCC
- Evaluation Framework for Home Fire Safety Visits
- Road Safety Policy Position Statement
- Wildfires Position Statement
- Inland Water Safety Position Statement
- Prevention Evaluation
- Online Home Fire Safety Check
Glossary of terms
Community
A group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.
Community Risk Management Planning
The process by which services identify community risks, estimates of the impact of those risks should they occur, and define their preventative and response activities to them for their geographic area of responsibility. Services collate this information in a risk management plan (known previously as an Integrated Risk Management Plan) or to align with latest guidance – a Community Risk Management Plan.
Equality of Access
The responsibility of ensuring all services and information provided by a fire and rescue service to the public or within their organisation, is inclusive and accessible.
Others
A collective term to describe the parties that may be pertinent to the activity described in the standard. This might include both organisations or the employees and volunteers of those organisations such as but not limited to, other fire and rescue services, partner organisations, other emergency responder agencies, stakeholders or members of a community
Person-Centred Approach
An approach that places the individual and the communities served by the fire and rescue service at the core of its prevention activity.
Prevention Strategy
The approach being taken by a fire and rescue service in relation to delivering its prevention activities. This may be a single document or something which is part of a larger group of documents depending on how the service approaches its strategic planning for the organisation.
Safeguarding
To protect another person’s right to live and work in safety, free from abuse and harm.
Prevention Fire Standard and HMICFRS Characteristics of Good
The following shows how the Prevention Fire Standard relates to HMICFRS Characteristics of Good from the 2025-27 inspection round.
1. How well does the FRS understand and manage the risk of fire and other emergencies?
1.3. The CRMP clearly establishes how the FRS will manage risk to the public and monitor the delivery of its objectives for prevention, protection and response activity.
2. How effective is the FRS at preventing fires and other risks?
2.1. The FRS has developed and implemented a realistic and risk-based prevention strategy which is informed by local risk and complies with statutory requirements. The FRS’s prevention plan clearly sets out where the greatest risks lie within its area and has a clear rationale for the level of activity to prevent fires and other risks. The FRS uses findings from prevention, protection and response activity to adapt its prevention plan. FRS prevention activity meets community expectations, and its core functions are sustained regardless of other discretionary priorities for the FRS.
2.2. The FRS tailors its communications to provide information about fire prevention and to promote community safety. The FRS has a comprehensive understanding of the diverse needs of its communities and makes sure that its engagement and communication is designed to be appropriate and accessible to meet those diverse needs.
2.3. FRS staff are able to recognise the opportunity to prevent fires and other risks and take appropriate action. The FRS works with other FRSs, a wide range of partner organisations and diverse sections of the community to reduce the number of fires and other risks. The FRS evaluates the impact of its prevention activity and uses this to improve its own and partners’ approaches.
2.5. The FRS identifies and targets people who display signs of fire-setting behaviour for intervention activity, and routinely shares information with partner organisations to support the prosecution of arsonists.
Related Updates
Updates to this standard
Last Update:
22 September 2025
Desired Outcome
A fire and rescue service that works to educates its communities to adopt safer behaviours, improving their safety, health and wellbeing.
It reduces incidents through delivering evidence-based, effective, efficient and targeted prevention activities which are accessible and inclusive.
To Achieve this Fire Standard
2. aligned with its CRMP, develop a prevention strategy and plan with the flexibility to proactively respond and adapt to the changing needs of its community, and for this to be supported by a named lead for prevention from within the service;
4. recruit, train, and develop employees and volunteers, working with others where relevant, to establish and maintain a competent and professional prevention workforce. This includes being qualified in accordance with relevant legislation and requirements for example safeguarding and Home Fire Safety Visits;
7. utilise and share accurate and consistent data and intelligence across teams, from a variety of sources to support evidence-based decision making and the deployment of appropriate resources for prevention activities;
9. generate a culture which embraces national and organisational learning allowing it to identify and capture feedback from a range of sources; reflect, share and act upon it to drive innovation and continuous improvement and enhance future performance.
10. quality assure the delivery of prevention activities;
Expected Benefits
3. Improved efficiency and effectiveness of prevention activities through the use of evaluation
4. Increased awareness of existing and emerging risks through community engagement and organisational learning
New Legal Requirements or Mandatory Duties
New Linked Qualifications, Accreditations, or Fire Standards
- Leading and Developing People Fire Standard
- Data Management Fire Standard
- Communication and Engagement Fire Standard
- Introduction to Children and Young People Skills for Justice Award
- Home Fire Safety Visits Competency Framework
- CPD accredited Safeguarding Safer Recruitment training (train-the-trainer)
New Guidance and Supporting Information
- Safeguarding guidance for Adults, Children and Young People
- Safeguarding Self-Assessment Toolkit - NFCC
- Evaluation Framework for Home Fire Safety Visits
- Road Safety Policy Position Statement
- Wildfires Position Statement
- Inland Water Safety Position Statement
- Prevention Evaluation
- Online Home Fire Safety Check
Note Please contact the Fire Standards team within the NFCC for any queries or support with regards to this Fire Standard [email protected]