You're simply the best

Feb 2 2010 By Hannah Williams, Buckinghamshire Advertiser

COUNTY firefighters have been voted top in a survey measuring how well crews perform at emergency incidents in the home.

Buckinghamshire firefighters were ranked on speed of response, how polite, helpful, efficient, and reassuring they were, and whether they kept the effect of the incident to a minimum.

Householders were also asked for their views on the quality of safety advice they were given at the scene by market research firm Opinion Research Services.

Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service scored 100 per cent in an 'at the scene' category, and an overall satisfaction score of 99 per cent.

Denis O'Driscoll, area manager response, said: "All the brigades taking part scored highly, reflecting the high standards and professionalism of fire and rescue services throughout the UK.

"This makes our own achievement even more impressive and I am immensely proud of the station-based staff who have earned this accolade. The fact that this is the view of the community that we serve shows that the quality service we always aim to provide is really appreciated by them.

"While this is clearly very pleasing, we are in no way complacent and want to ensure that we can maintain or even improve on this overall performance in the future."

Statistics were gathered for 37 fire and rescue services as part of the survey.

Bucks control room staff were rated fourth out of 37 in the 'initial contact' stage.

Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service received an overall satisfaction score of 96 per cent in a separate survey looking at its performance at incidents involving non-domestic premises.