South Yorkshire’s fire service has been praised for making improvements in its latest inspection report, published today.

His Majesty’s Inspectorate rated South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue as ‘good’ at preventing fires and other risks, promoting the right values and culture and ensuring fairness and promoting diversity.

Inspectors also said the service is good at making best use of its resources and future affordability.

The report rates the county’s fire service as ‘adequate’ – a new rating introduced by inspectors- in the remaining six inspection areas.

Chief Fire Officer Chris Kirby, said: “I’m pleased with the content of the report- though we also have more work to get to where we want to be as a service. I want to thank everyone who works for South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue. They should feel proud of the improvements we’ve made since our last inspection.

“Clearly, there is still room for improvement. We aspire to be one of the country’s leading fire and rescue services. Based on these results, we are not quite there yet.

“But overall, it’s clear that the hard work people across the service have put in to improve our performance since our last inspection has paid off.

“We will now look to address the remaining areas for improvement which inspectors identified, as we strive towards a better service for all those we serve and employ.”

This is the third time the service has been inspected by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS).

All fire and rescue services are measured against the same 11 areas and given a grade for each.

HMICFRS recently expanded its previous four-tier system of graded judgments to five- with the new ‘adequate’ rating being introduced for the first time during this latest round of inspections.

For more information, view the full report here.