Fire Brigades Union (FBU) officials and members in Staffordshire say the fire and rescue authority is out of touch with the public who feel chronically let down over cuts to services in their area.
In spite of reserves of £11M, the fire and rescue authority on Monday announced 22 full time firefighter job losses, one tenth of the workforce, and the loss of three fire engines taking the total number down to 39 from 42.
FBU members feel their concerns about response times being affected by the cuts were ignored, in spite of the impact that longer response times will inevitably have on public safety.staffor
Richard Williams, secretary of the FBU in Staffordshire, said: “These cuts are devastating, and their impact is going to be felt harshly in Staffordshire communities. The FBU are the professional voice of firefighters, but Staffordshire fire authority refused to listen to us. They have no idea what the public want or how they feel about these savage cuts.
“Our suggestions for making savings such as reducing the use of targeted response vehicles, which are basically large vans, fell on deaf ears – they had already decided jobs and fire engines were going to go. We are still keen to be involved in negotiations with service management but right now, we are hugely disappointed.”
