FOI4571 / April 2023 / Incident Data

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 – I would like to request under the Freedom of Information Act data held by Essex County Fire and Rescue Service on vehicle fires attended by your emergency crews for the financial years 2017-18 to 2022-23 inclusive.

The information I am seeking relates directly to vehicles which have caught fire either while parked or while in use.

An example would be a car which catches fire while parked outside a house or a car which catches fire while driving along the road. I am not looking for information on vehicles which have been deliberately set alight or that have caught fire after being involved in a road traffic collision.

I would like information held by Essex County Fire and Rescue Service broken down into the following categories: Type/Class of vehicle (such as Car/SUV/MPV/Van/HGV) Make: (Such as Ford/Vauxhall/Mercedes/Land Rover) Model: (Such as Mondeo/Corsa/E-Class/Discovery) Fuel: (Such as Petrol/Diesel/LPG/Hydrogen/Hybrid/Electric)

I would also like information as to whether the vehicle fire caused any casualties / fatalities or caused damage to other vehicles / buildings.

Attached are two tables containing the information requested.

The data is as requested for vehicle fires not involved in suspected Arson or Road Traffic Collisions,

Unfortunately, we do not have all of the data for the specific types or makes or fuels of vehicles, the data for the specifics of the vehicles shown on the tables is what the crews attending noted at the scene.

It is also not recorded on our systems whether vehicle fires caused any casualties or fatalities or damage to other vehicles/buildings.

Please note the below data only covers the period from 1st January 2018* until 31st March 2023.

We are unable to access the relevant data prior to 1st January 2018. *(Financial year 2017/18 shows results from 1st January to 31st March 2018).

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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.