Fire chief on £160k pleads for special treatment

Mark Smitherman, chief of the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, has warned that the public could be put at risk and fire stations could close if budget cuts of the levels suggested by the coalition Government become reality.

However, while arguing that his service should be exempt from the swingeing cuts, Mr Smitherman is currently earning between 160,000 and 165,000 a year – more than any other chief fire officer in Yorkshire, and up from less than 120,000 three years ago.

Last night Tory MP for Shipley, Philip Davies, said that Mr Smitherman and other highly-paid public sector officials need to accept that "we're all in this together."

Mr Davies said: "He (Mr Smitherman) has got to appreciate the fact that the country is on the verge of bankruptcy. We're borrowing almost half a billion pounds a day, and that's just not sustainable.

"If he thinks it's so important that the frontline fire service is protected, which is not an unreasonable thing to say, maybe he'll appreciate that we're all in this together and take a reduction in his salary in order to protect what he thinks is absolutely vital – given that his pay has increased so much in recent years."

Following Chancellor George Osborne's Emergency Budget announcement that the average cut in public services would be about 25 per cent, Mr Smitherman said it was time to "stand up for his staff and the safety of the South Yorkshire public" and plead a special case.

He said: "As an emergency service we have unique needs because our work is based purely on risk, not activity levels.

"Emergency incidents have reduced significantly but the risks to the public are still out there. We must keep enough resources available 24/7, just in case."

Mr Smitherman said although some savings could be made, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue was already an "extremely efficient organisation."

During the same three years that Mr Smitherman's salary has risen by at least 40,000, the chief fire officer's salary at the North Yorkshire brigade has gone up be more than 30,000, from less than 120,000 to somewhere between 150,000 and 154,999 in the last tax year.

The West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service chief officer has seen a pay increase, to 156,118 last year, compared to between 140,000 and 149,999 three years previously. Over the same time period, the chief at Humberside Fire and Rescue, now earning between 135,000 and 139.999, has had a pay rise of no more than 20,000.

John Gilliver from the Fire Brigades' Union, which has previously criticised the chief fire officer's large pay packets, said the union was supporting Mr Smitherman's stance.

He said: "We have already made quite massive efficiency savings in South Yorkshire.We don't see where any more cuts can come from without it having a dramatic effect on how we deal with fires. This could put in danger not only members of the public, but also firefighters."