Cuts to firefighters will ‘increase risk to public’ - union

Humberside Fire and Rescue Service has seen 150 jobs go since 2007, and chief fire officer Richard Hannigan said numbers could decline by a further 50 to 60 over the next two to three years to meet Government cuts.

The Fire Brigades Union claimed the changes will increase the danger to the public, but Mr Hannigan said current response standards would be maintained.

He said: “The plans that are in place will still ensure we meet our response standards.”

He added: “My number one priority in Humberside is to protect the communities of Humberside. I do it by very effective fire prevention, enforcing fire safety law and responding to emergencies. None of the plans are going to compromise any of these activities.

“We are here for the communities we serve. My aim is to provide an excellent service.”

No firefighters have been made compulsorily redundant, with cuts made by “natural wastage” through not replacing staff when they retire.

A strategic plan for 2013-2016 is expected to go out to public consultation for 12 weeks in April.

Current standards include two fire engines being sent to every home fire and road traffic incident. In high risk areas, the first fire engine is expected to be there in eight minutes on at least 90 per cent of occasions.

The secretary of the Humberside branch of the Fire Brigades Union, Richard Walker, said there were a number of options on the table, including reducing cover or removing pumps altogether.

He said: “You can keep fire stations open, but it doesn’t mean fire cover isn’t affected. If the number on them is cut the response is worse.

“I would say any cuts to front-line services increases the danger to the public. But we will have to wait and see exactly what the fire authority is proposing.”

Mr Hannigan said they were looking at more flexible ways of working to continue provide levels of cover and it could mean taking on “a few more” retained “on call” firefighters, who are paid a fee for being available and a payment for turning out to an emergency.

In 2010, they converted one pump at Goole fire station from a full-time crew to a retained crew.

“It is a different type of cover, but runs at a significantly lower cost,” he said.

“We recognise that we are going to have to work more flexibly. We are going to have to be quite innovative in the way we deliver services to the public.”

Call-outs to fires have gone down dramatically in recent years, with the number of house fires down by around a half over the past decade, and deliberate fires down 80 per cent.

Under the draft plan, free home safety visits will continue to be provided to those who are most at risk of injury in a fire.

The fire brigade, which is facing a 7.4 per cut for each of the next two years, has been criticised for spending £3.9m on replacing the three-storey fire station on Clough Road, in Hull, which was built in 1958.

But Mr Walker agreed with the chief fire officer that a replacement was needed.

He said the building was “falling down”, adding: “You can’t keep patching up the cracks. We have no choice.”

Cuts have been even more severe to South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, with the brigade having to save £9.5m from its £60m budget by 2015. So far 32 retained firefighters have gone and the brigade’s full-time numbers are expected to fall by around 110.

There are also proposals to close a number of fire stations across the county. They have also launched a consultation which could see minimum emergency response times scrapped. Unlike ambulance trusts, fire brigades are not subject to minimum national standards and can set their own response times or decide to scrap them completely.