The South West Fire Brigades Union, representing Fire Control Room Operators, condemns as unacceptable plans to slash the workforce by almost 66%. This is in response to the release of proposed staffing numbers in the planned Regional Control Centre (RCC) which will be based in Taunton. The FBU believes that these plans by the Company running the RCC means that finally the true scale of the project can be seen.

Under this proposal the number of Emergency Fire Control Room Operators will be slashed from the current 175 to 63, a loss of 112 jobs in a public service that provides a life saving capability to communities throughout the South West.

The FBU has a long standing opposition to the plans to regionalise Emergency Fire Control Rooms and now details are coming out of the impact on the number of people working in the RCC the Fire Brigades Union reiterates its opposition to the plans.

John Drake , Regional Secretary of The Fire Brigades Union said “Both Clive Kemp (Project Director) and Cllr Jerry Willmott (Chair of the Company) state that “the public will continue to receive a very high level of service.” We reject this assertion because it is based on replacing committed and highly skilled emergency service workers with an untried and untested computer system. These people have given a committed lifesaving service to the public only now to be told that they can be replaced by a computer chip and thrown on the scrap heap. To add insult to injury there are told that there will be redundancies but not told how many or where. To treat people in this way is a disgrace. We demand that all Fire Authorities give our members immediate peace of mind by guaranteeing re-deployment options.

Technology alone cannot and will not provide all the answers to the problems a Regional Control Centre will bring. Anyone who has used a computer knows this.

The massive reduction in staffing numbers will not improve efficiency or make the Fire and Rescue Service more resilient nor will it improve safety.

Once again public opinion is being ignored as politicians play with peoples lives.

The FBU call upon the decision makers to scrap this project as they have recently done in Scotland.”

***ENDS***

Media Contact:

John Drake (Regional Secretary SW FBU) 07813170755