‘Fire crews’ lives at risk over new cuts’
FIREFIGHTERS: Crews’ lives across Yorkshire will be put at risk when further cuts from central government hit in early 2020, the Fire Brigades Union has warned.
Government funding for the service is expected to fall by £155m in 2019/20, which the FBU has said has already had devastating consequences.
FIREFIGHTERS’ LIVES across Yorkshire will be put at risk when further cuts from central government hit in early 2020, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has warned.
Government funding for the fire and rescue service is expected to fall by £155m in 2019/20, which the FBU has said has already had devastating consequences.
The Yorkshire Post recently revealed how it took firefighters nearly 15 minutes to reach the scene of a fatal house fire in Ilkley, in which an 89-year-old woman died, as a result of financial cuts and staffing issues which left services stretched or unavailable.
David Gillian, a representative from the FBU, says watch manager numbers will be almost halved across West Yorkshire in January under the new Command, Leadership and Management (CLM) model, with crews reduced from five firefighters to four.
He said: “Central government has continued to cut funding to dangerous levels and we are already finding there are not enough firefighters in the system now to cover the basics such as training courses, sickness and annual leave. Firefighters, just as with other public servants, continue to bear the brunt of austerity.”
Speaking about the reduction in watch managers, Mr Gillian said: “The plan is for the remaining watch managers to ride flexibly in cars, rather than on the fire engines but it is likely they will end up being pulled back to stations to maintain minimum staffing levels of four rather than five.
“That fifth crew member was introduced for firefighter safety following firefighter deaths and now this vital safety role is being casually discarded across the country. It is a mess. We have not got enough people in the system to make things work. We are becoming more and more stretched. We are seeing members of the public die like in Ilkley. Its being brushed under the carpets and excuses made.
“The other fear we have is that firefighters are going to get killed. You are under that moral pressure to break all the health and safety rules and do your best to save people’s lives and that’s where people start to get killed. We saw this happen at Grenfell. It was lucky that this tragedy happened in the most resourced area of the country, had it happened here in Yorkshire it would have been far worse.”
Mr Gillian also revealed that on the back of the 2017 Grenfell Tower tragedy in London which killed 72 people there would be more pressure on fire authorities to carry out more inspections to make sure buildings are safe.
He said: “Ultimately what we need is more funding from the Government, but the [West Yorkshire] Fire Authority and management are reluctant to go to the public and say we haven’t got enough money because they don’t want to cause panic, but that is what needs to happen.”
A West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue spokeswoman said the new model is a “more effective and flexible way of working for our operational staff ”.
She said: “Crew Managers will be in charge of the majority of our less serious incidents to which fire engines will respond with a minimum crew of four. The new CLM model will lead to expected financial savings of over £1M and there will be no redundancies made as a result, however over time there will be a reduction in Watch Manager posts through leavers or planned retirements.”
Had Grenfell happened in Yorkshire it would have been far worse. David Gillian, a representative from the Fire Brigades Union.