Fires at Natural England Sites

The request was successful.

Dear Surrey County Council,

Could you please tell me how many calls to outdoor fires were attended each year, for the past five years (between 01/04/2017 and 01/04/2022), for all land owned or managed by Natural England in your area. I would be interested in fires of any size, both Prinary and Secondary, deliberate and accidental. Please also include false alarms.

I have found the following sites in your area

- THURSLEY National Nature Reserve

Can I also ask for the total number of hours spent at fires (incident time) and the total number of hours spent by appliances at fires (appliance time) for each year of the past five years too please?

I would be looking for the total number of hours and minutes spent by all appliances, specials and officers cars at an incident, even if they were cancelled en route. Could you take each incident included in the data, e.g., Incident 1 in Forest X in 2017.

Then could you gather what vehicles were alerted of Incident 1 in Forest X in 2017. E.g., 3 vehicles in total.

Then find the hours and minutes each vehicle "spent on the incident" worked out from the time that the 999 call came into the control room (and if relavent each different vehicle was alerted) to the time it became available again.

E.g., - Vehicle 1

Alerted: 9:00
Became available: 11:50
Total time: 2 hours and 50 minutes

Vehicle 2
Alerted: 9:30
Became available: 9:33 (it was cancelled before making it to the scene)
Total time: 3 minutes

Vehicle 3
Alerted: 10:00
Became available: 10:20
Total time: 20 minutes

Then could the total vehicle times be added together to give the total time that was spent by all vehicles on that incident. In the example above this would be:
2 hrs and 50 min (Vehicle 1) + 3 min (Vehicle 2) + 20 min (Vehicle 3) = 3 hours and 13 minutes.

Once that has been worked out for each incident in a year, please could you add all the total times added together to give the yearly total in hours and minutes.

I am aware that sometimes incidents are reported vaguely such as "the woods off of London Road" without the full address. Please could you do your best to capture these incidents too. Could you also include any other sites owned by Natural England that you cover that I may have missed please.

I have been trying to find digital maps to assist with my request and capture land that hasnt been listed. I have been told by Natural England that "The information you seek is publicly available. The list of all of the National Nature Reserves can be found on Gov.UK on the link below. You can look by region and then by county to see which are owned and managed by Natural England and which are managed by otherorganisations. The contact details and addresses are also provided for all National Nature Reserves. Postal addresses are available on the lists for Natural England owned and managed sites. The attached link on Gov.UK is open data portal that provides information on all National Nature Reserves. If you click on a National Nature Reserve (NNR) and zoom in you will see a text box opens that provides data on size, area etc. This data is based on GIS Government Open data policy."

https://naturalengland-defra.opendata.ar...

ab7bfd86f5b347df8d47fc9bfab80caf

https://data.gov.uk/dataset/726484b0-d14...

Or the Defra MAGIC map available at https://magic.defra.gov.uk/

I am aware that for similar requests, some services have sent these links on to their GIS or mapping teams who have overlayed them on the services incident map. I hope this will assist you further in fulfilling my request.

Can I also ask if you routinely notify public landowners, such as Forestry England and Natural England if a fire has occurred on their land that crews have attended and if you have a policy on this?

Yours faithfully,

L. Mesi

Information request
Our reference: 3949629
 
 
 
Dear L. Mesi
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
RE: IR - THURSLEY National Nature Reserve 
 
Thank you for your request for information that was received on 3 May 2022
 
We are dealing with your request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 and we aim to send a response by 31 May 2022.
 
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 may restrict the release of some or
all of the information you have requested. We will carry out an assessment
and if any exemptions apply to some or all of the information then we
might not provide that information to you. We will inform you if this is
the case and advise you of your rights to request an internal review and
to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.
 
We will also advise you if we cannot provide you with the information
requested for any other reason together with the reason(s) why and details
of how you may appeal (if appropriate).
 
Yours faithfully
 
Maggie McCormack
Information Governance Support Officer
Law & Governance - Resources
 
Surrey County Council | Woodhatch Place | 11 Cockshot Hill | Reigate | RH2
8EF | Working from home | Contact Centre Tel no: 03456 009 009 (9am to
5pm, Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays) |  | Email:
[email address]
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
 
Surrey County Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee.
If you are not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error
has misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email.
Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual sender,
except where the sender specifically states these to be the views of
Surrey County Council.
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Surrey County
Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
the use of this email or attachments.

1 Attachment

Information request
Our reference: 3949629
 
Dear L. Mesi

Freedom of Information Act 2000

RE: IR - THURSLEY National Nature Reserve 

Thank you for your request for information received on 3 May 2022.
 

You requested the following:

1. Could you please tell me how many calls to outdoor fires were attended
each year, for the past five years (between 01/04/2017 and 01/04/2022),
for all land owned or managed by Natural England in your area. I would be
interested in fires of any size, both Primary and Secondary, deliberate
and accidental. Please also include false alarms.

 I have found the following sites in your area

 - THURSLEY National Nature Reserve

  Please refer to attached spreadsheet.

 

2. Can I also ask for the total number of hours spent at fires (incident
time) and the total number of hours spent by appliances at fires
(appliance time) for each year of the past five years too please?

I would be looking for the total number of hours and minutes spent by all
appliances, specials and officers cars at an incident, even if they were
cancelled en route. Could you take each incident included in the data,
e.g., Incident 1 in Forest X in 2017

 Please refer to attached spreadsheet.

 

3. Then could you gather what vehicles were alerted of Incident 1 in
Forest X in 2017. E.g., 3 vehicles in total.

Then find the hours and minutes each vehicle "spent on the incident"
worked out from the time that the 999 call came into the control room (and
if relevant each different vehicle was alerted) to the time it became
available again.

E.g., - Vehicle 1

Alerted: 9:00

Became available: 11:50

Total time: 2 hours and 50 minutes

Vehicle 2

Alerted: 9:30

Became available: 9:33 (it was cancelled before making it to the scene)

Total time: 3 minutes

Vehicle 3

Alerted: 10:00

Became available: 10:20

Total time: 20 minutes

Please refer to attached spreadsheet.

 

3.1 Then could the total vehicle times be added together to give the total
time that was spent by all vehicles on that incident. In the example above
this would be:

2 hrs and 50 min (Vehicle 1) + 3 min (Vehicle 2) + 20 min (Vehicle 3) = 3
hours and 13 minutes.

Please refer to attached spreadsheet.

 

3.2 Once that has been worked out for each incident in a year, please
could you add all the total times added together to give the yearly total
in hours and minutes.

Please refer to attached spreadsheet .

 

3.3 I am aware that sometimes incidents are reported vaguely such as "the
woods off of London Road" without the full address. Please could you do
your best to capture these incidents too. Could you also include any other
sites owned by Natural England that you cover that I may have missed
please.

I have been trying to find digital maps to assist with my request and
capture land that hasn't been listed. I have been told by Natural England
that "The information you seek is publicly available. The list of all of
the National Nature Reserves can be found on Gov.UK on the link below. You
can look by region and then by county to see which are owned and managed
by Natural England and which are managed by other organisations. The
contact details and addresses are also provided for all National Nature
Reserves. Postal addresses are available on the lists for Natural England
owned and managed sites. The attached link on Gov.UK is open data portal
that provides information on all National Nature Reserves. If you click on
a National Nature Reserve (NNR) and zoom in you will see a text box opens
that provides data on size, area etc. This data is based on GIS Government
Open data policy."

[1]https://naturalengland-defra.opendata.ar...

[2]https://data.gov.uk/dataset/726484b0-d14...

Or the Defra MAGIC map available at [3]https://magic.defra.gov.uk/

I am aware that for similar requests, some services have sent these links
on to their GIS or mapping teams who have overlayed them on the services
incident map. I hope this will assist you further in fulfilling my
request.

Please refer to attached spreadsheet.

 

4. Can I also ask if you routinely notify public landowners, such as
Forestry England and Natural England if a fire has occurred on their land
that crews have attended and if you have a policy on this?

Should Surrey Fire Control have the necessary contact details available
for the public landowner then they shall inform the landowner that SFRS
are attending an incident on their land. The control operator receives an
'action prompt' whilst inputting the call details informing them to carry
out the procedure. No set policy is available for this as this merely a
procedure that is carried out.

 

I can confirm that the information requested is held by Surrey County
Council. I have detailed below the information that is being released to
you.  

​Please quote the reference number 3949629 in any future communications​.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the
right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be
submitted within 40 working days of the date of receipt of the response to
your original letter and should be addressed to:

Freedom of Information Officer
Law and Governance
Surrey County Council
Woodhatch Place

11 Cockshot Hill

Reigate

Surrey

RH2 8EF 

[email address]

If you are still dissatisfied with the Council's response after the
internal review you have a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner
at:

The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Website: www.ico.org.uk

 

I will now close your request as of this date.

 
Yours faithfully
Business Support Officer
Surrey Fire & Rescue
 
Surrey County Council | Woodhatch Place | 11 Cockshot Hill | Reigate | RH2
8EF | Working from home | Contact Centre Tel no: 03456 009 009 (9am to
5pm, Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays) |  | Email:
[email address]
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
 
Surrey County Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee.
If you are not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error
has misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email.
Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual sender,
except where the sender specifically states these to be the views of
Surrey County Council.
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Surrey County
Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
the use of this email or attachments.

References

Visible links
1. https://naturalengland-defra.opendata.ar...
2. https://data.gov.uk/dataset/726484b0-d14...
3. https://magic.defra.gov.uk/