A report examining the cost to the UK economy of arson has urged greater collaboration between police, the insurance industry and other stakeholder agencies.Arson accounts for not far short of half – 45% (68,900 fires) – of all fires in England. While the number of deliberately started fires and associated fatalities have fallen over a 10-year period, accidental fires are falling at a much faster rate.
And if the number of fires attributable to arson is falling, the costs incurred by businesses, government and the insurance industry are not, according to a recipient of a Queen’s Fire Service Medal for distinguished service in the New Year 2014 Honours List.
“Collaboration is the key,” says Lee Howell, independent chairman of the Arson Prevention Forum. “Working together to improve the effectiveness of prevention, protection, investigation and diversion activities will help reduce the incidence of fires and the associated cost.”
The Association of British Insurers says that its members pay out more than £1bn in fire-related claims annually.
“The approach towards arson reduction is not as joined up as it could be, and the level of investment directed towards tackling arson is limited, to say the least,” says Howell, who is also Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser/Inspector for Wales, the Chief Fire Officer for Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service and a former president (2011-12) of the UK Chief Fire Officers Association.
“When investigating what is currently taking place to combat arson, a range of examples of fire and rescue services’ work was provided, some of which involved the police and other agencies but examples of the work of other partners were harder to come by.”
Pool resources
The report urges agencies to pool resources and funding as well as expertise and knowledge. The lessons of successful interventions must be shared, it recommends.
The report also advises the Association of British Insurers to work with the insurance research body RISCAuthority to collate data on strategies that have effectively reduced claims in the past. In particular, it recommends that the costs of arson are recorded separately from the total cost of fires in order to better understand the scale of the problem and effectiveness of strategies developed to combat it.
Finally, the insurance industry is also advised to consider the role sprinklers can play in reducing the impact of arson.
The police (including the Home Office and Police & Crime Commissioners), meanwhile, need to show leadership in working with partners at a tactical level.
Partnerships between fire and rescue services and the police via the Chief Fire Officers Association and Association of Chief Police Officers (soon to become National Police Chiefs Council), supported by the Local Government Association (LGA) and Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), will continue to be instrumental in tackling arson, the report continues.
The Arson Prevention Forum, a strategic platform for sharing good practice for preventing and reducing the incidence of arson, should continue to share best practice from local arson reduction programmes, the report suggests, while the Crown Prosecution Service should share lessons learnt from prosecutions, including both those that succeeded and failed.
The report concluded that discussions were needed in Whitehall to increase the emphasis on, and awareness of, arson reduction programmes.
Supported by the ABI, FPA as well as Zurich and AXA, the Arson Prevention Forum will present the report to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Insurance and Financial Services this month.
Further information on the Arson Prevention Forum along with resources and examples of notable practice can be found on its website.
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