REGional controls would have collapsed under THE strain
Amid a recent sharp increase in 999 calls to emergency incidents Union calls for Government re-think
The Government’s proposed regional fire control rooms would have collapsed under the strain of the recent sharp increase in 999 calls to emergency incidents, the FBU has warned. If regional controls had been up and running, the union says, the fire service would have faced chaos dealing with the huge numbers of major fire and flooding incidents which have happened across the country in the last 6 weeks.
The Union says it was only the very close working between local controls and their local fire brigades which enabled the service to deal coherently with incredibly busy conditions. The regional control system - which would see calls “bounced” at busy periods to any regional control in England able to take the call - would break the existing link between emergency fire controls and the brigade handling the incident.
Every region dealing with spate calls
The last six weeks has been a very busy period with local controls in every region dealing with “spate” conditions. That would mean every regional control would have been running at peak capacity, with no spare capacity to take overflow calls from other regions, even if that system could work.
The staffing levels being proposed for the regional controls would have meant the collapse would have been even more rapid. There would be a very high likelihood of emergency calls from the public not getting through.
The proposed staffing cuts are between 22% in the North East (from the current 109 total in existing local controls, to 82 being proposed in the regional control) to a 48% cut in the South West (from 168 currently employed in existing local controls to 86 being proposed in the regional control).
Local controls demonstrated resilience
General Secretary Matt Wrack said: “In recent weeks local emergency fire controls have demonstrated how resilient they are and how fragile the regional controls system would be. It was only the very close working between the local emergency fire controls and the local brigades they serve which kept the fire and rescue service going.
“Everyone in the fire service now knows the planned regional controls would have been too remote to ensure a coherent fire and rescue service response. The proposed staffing levels on their own would have seen the regional controls collapse.
“Regional controls would have caused chaos across the fire service and put lives at risk with large numbers of 999 calls from the public not getting through. People would have been held in a queue listening to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons while the room filled with smoke.
“The Government needs to start listening to fire service concerns over these plans. It needs to listen to the recent Select Committee report which confirmed the project had a ‘high risk of total project failure’.”
For more on our campaign against regional controls visit
Merseyside expects “Yes” vote in ballot over cuts
Merseyside fire crews are expecting a ‘yes’ vote in their strike ballot which is set to close on Monday 21 August. They anticipate being able to announce the result around 4pm on the day when they can also give 7 day’s notice of strike action.
Local fire crews are balloting over plans to cut 120 emergency response firefighter posts – one in ten of the workforce - 15 emergency fire control operator posts and axe four fire engines at night time. There will be fewer rescue appliances, fewer firefighters on fire engines and a longer wait for crews to arrive to all 999 emergencies.
Safety of firefighters and public at stake
The loss of one in ten fulltime firefighter posts – in addition to the 68 posts lost last year - will inevitably damage the overall operational capability of the Merseyside fire and rescue service. Fire crews say this will clearly compromise their safety and the safety of the public.
Les Skarratts, Merseyside FBU secretary said: “The loss of one in ten full time posts – on top of the 68 lost last year –will impact on our safety and the safety of the public. There would be fewer frontline firefighters taking longer to get to emergencies with less rescue equipment available.
Yes vote expected in face of savage cuts
“Fire crews could be left at incidents either standing back and doing nothing until more support arrives and risking the public, or ignoring basic safety procedures and risking themselves. Merseyside fire crews do not want to take industrial action but we do expect a ‘yes’ vote because of the savage cuts we are faced with.
“The public consultation is a charade because the chief officer says he has already implemented the job losses. Senior managers are confident they can scare councillors into backing these panic measures but they will not frighten us into giving in to them.
“We are prepared to have talks at any time. If councillors and senior managers want to have genuine negotiations then this needs to happen as a matter of urgency.”
Tooling up for FRS operational assessments
The Union is tooling up its officials to ensure they have the most effective input into the newly introduced operational assessments of fire authorities.
Training for brigade negotiation and health & safety officials, as well as appropriate regional reps, was piloted on August 9. Further training sessions will be provided on 24 and 26 August.
"Now that brigades will be having assessments on their own CPA process it is important the FBU takes the opportunity to give a coherent response," says John McGhee, national officer responsible for health and safety.
For information on the Union’s health and safety work visit
FBU national school - dates
The FBU National School will take place at Wortley Hall between the 30 October and 4th November 2006.
Wortley Hall is adjacent to the village of Wortley near to Sheffield. The FBU National School is residential. The programme and application forms will be circulated in due course.
Black Pride
The first ever Black (LGBT) Pride event is taking place this weekend.
It will start at noon on Saturday 19th August and is taking place at East Beach, Shoeburyness, Southend-on-Sea. The FBU will be in attendance along with other unions at a joint TUC stall.
More details: http://www.ukblackpride.org/
Fire engines to Iraq – last call for donations of fire kit/mobile phones/laptops
A team from the FBU will soon be departing for Iraq with 2 fire engines plus a full set of ladders and Clan Lucas Hydraulic cutting/spreading equipment for each of them.
Members/officials can help make the most of the trip by approaching your individual brigades for donations of unused kit: anything that you would expect to find on your appliance, including both suction and delivery hose, collecting heads and strainers to allow the pumps to work.
Any donations of laptops and mobile phones (with chargers) would also be very helpful.
Because of time constraints, any equipment would need to be delivered by the end of August. It should be sent to:
Adrian Clarke
Stanground Fire Station
Belle Vue, Stanground
Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
The equipment will be delivered to local firefighters and their Union.
FBU solidarity work features in new book on Iraqi union movement
Read about the Union’s solidarity work with Iraq in Hadi never died: Hadi Saleh and the Iraqi trade unions, a new book commemorating the assassinated Iraqi trade unionist and full of information on the country’s new democratic trade union movement.
Visit: www.tuc.org.uk/publications/viewPub.cfm?frmPubID=479 - profits go to the TUC Aid for Iraq Appeal.
For more information on Iraqi trade unions and the TUC's Iraq appeal click on the below links:www.iraqitradeunions.org/en/
www.tuc.org.uk/international/index.cfm?mins=376
Lebanon/Palestine
Visit www.palestinecampaign.org to do something about the Palestinian/ Lebanon crisis or click: www.palestinecampaign.org/campaigns.asp?d=y&id=145
Are you/your branch/brigade active in any international work? We’d like to hear from you.
Email us on international@fbu.org.uk or send a letter to General Secretary Matt Wrack, Secretary to the Union’s international committee, at Head Office.
