OARS: Optimising the On-call

OARS, our On-call Availability, Recruitment, and Skills planning software, developed in partnership with ORH, is the result of four years’ research into the factors that measurably impact on-call fire engine availability. 

To mark the progress made since that first conference, we have produced a short film about OARS and the on-call network it is designed to support. You can watch it below.

Inaugurated at the 2024 National Fire Chiefs Council On-call Conference, OARS has since been adopted by more than ten UK fire and rescue services, across over 300 fire stations, informing recruitment, retention and workforce planning for thousands of on-call firefighters.

HMICFRS cited it as Promising Practice, and it features in the NFCC’s National On-Call Research Study, published in May 2026. That recognition led to OARS being showcased once more at this year’s NFCC On-call Conference in Cardiff, where interest was considerable and several more services signed up for future demonstrations.

How OARS works

Used by strategic managers, OARS is neither a rostering system nor a dashboard. It draws together census demographics, GIS-based travel times and a service’s own firefighter and incident history to give a picture of on-call workforce health: its vulnerabilities and its opportunities.

  • Availability trends: A forward-looking measure of expected availability and the incidents attendable at the current establishment, identifying which stations are most at risk.

  • Skills planning: An appliance needs a driver and a commander, not just bodies. OARS shows who to prioritise as Emergency Response Drivers and Incident Commanders, so training goes where it changes availability.

  • ‘What if’ modelling: Test a recruitment drive, a wave of retirements, or an upskilling programme before committing, rather than reacting once there is a gap on the run.

  • Recruitment and catchment: It maps where recruitment is most likely to succeed, including against local diversity data, and whether a small change to turn-in times opens a much larger candidate pool.

  • Crewing and contract alternatives: It models alternative crewing rules, ridership and station clusters before any changes are implemented.

What services can get from it

  • Higher fire engine availability and more incidents attended. 

  • Fewer appliances idle for want of an ERD or an IC. 

  • Planning that anticipates rather than reacts. 

  • A workforce less dependent on overstretched individuals. 

  • Recruitment, diversity and workforce planning addressed together, rather than one at a time.

If your service is not yet among those using OARS, we would be glad to hear from you - please get in touch with ORH.

Steven Sadler