Cutbacks blamed for rise in delays to fight fires

Rural areas hit by biggest increase in response times

RURAL AREAS had some of the largest increases in fire service response times as union leaders warned cutbacks were to blame for rises nationwide in how quickly crews could get to tackle a blaze.

Union officials in Yorkshire said the rise in less-populated areas was often due to rural stations being scaled back or crew numbers reducing, meaning back-up from further away had to be called in.

Nationally, Home Office figures showed the average response time to the most serious category of fires is more than half a minute longer than five years ago, at eight minutes and 49 seconds. This represents an increase of 11 seconds since 2017/18 and of 33 seconds since 2013/14.

Rural areas had some of the largest increases in response times to major fires on previous years. An average response time of 10 minutes and 34 seconds in predominantly rural areas in 2018/19 was up 18 seconds on 2017/18 and 27 seconds on 2013/14.

Significantly, rural areas had an average response time of nine minutes and 59 seconds in 2018/19, which was 13 seconds longer than 2017/18 and 52 seconds more than 2013/14.

The secretary of the Fire Brigade Union in South Yorkshire, Neil Carbutt, said: “Rural response times have increased but that’s because we’ve been through a period of austerity.”

He added: “Sometimes the rural stations might get the same amount of calls as the urban ones. For instance in South Yorkshire, there’s a station in Thorne and the next nearest station is in Goole, then Doncaster, which is 14 or 15 minutes away on blue lights.”

But he said because the minimum number of firefighters needed for a house fire is nine, and crews being made up of five firefighters, a fire close to Thorne – which may have only one engine based there – would need back

up from Goole or Doncaster if they were already busy.

He said this was critically important when the FBU fought attempts to take crew sizes down to four last year. If this had happened, three crews would have been needed for a house fire, potentially from further away.

He said it could have been the case that two four-person crews turned up but could not start work because they were one person short of the required number.

He said “morally” his colleagues would naturally start, but it “put them in a horrible position”.

Martyn Bairstow, secretary of West Yorkshire FBU, echoed his concerns and said West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue had tried to alleviate this by recently suggesting a senior firefighter arrived by car, allowing them to reach a total of nine firefighters.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “We at all times reactively manage our fire cover and make appropriate moves so engines are available in all areas.”

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue was contacted for comment.