Fire Brigades Union analysis has revealed that 18 firefighter positions could be under threat if Cumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Peter McCall decides to move ahead with a plan to become Cumbria Police Fire and Crime Commissioner, due to the three fire station closures that could result from this change.
After McCall published his business plan to become PFCC the union responded by stating that cuts to the fire and rescue budget as a result of the change could lead to the closure of three fire stations in Cumbria – Frizington, Arnside and Stavely, which have all come close to closure in recent years.
The 18 firefighter positions are at these stations, and furthermore when fully crewed these stations would have a further 18 positions based across them, increasing the scale of threat to jobs and potential jobs – making a total of 36 positions under threat if potential jobs are considered too.
In response to the initial FBU criticism McCall said that he didn’t “have any plans” to shut the stations, but stopped short of guaranteeing that the fire stations would not shut on his watch.
Ed Burrows, Fire Brigades Union regional secretary for the North West, said:
“Peter McCall is risking three fire station closures and 18 firefighter jobs, and thus public safety, in his project to become Police Fire and Crime Commissioner. This is, in our view, a project driven by his desire to grow his profile and role within the county. It’s not right that Cumbria is at serious risk of three fire station closures and losing 18 firefighters, which would cause slower response times and risk the lives of our community we protect.”
“There are multiple other issues with this proposal, such as its lack of democracy, and the differing nature of the police and fire services.”
The union is of the view that the fire and rescue budget would likely be cut if a PFCC system was brought in because the PFCC will have the latitude to impose cuts that will impact the fire and rescue service disproportionately to the police, and the PFCC will require funds to bulk up his office to be able to administer the fire and rescue service – money which would have to come from somewhere.
The union holds that there is a realistic prospect of these stations closing if the budget were cut because they have previously been threatened with closure. A plan that included closure of these stations was only fought off in 2016 following a concerted community campaign. Furthermore, fire and rescue management has since removed or tried to remove resources from these stations, such as staff and fire engines, something the union believes is a precursor to closure. Finally, in a call with Fire Brigades Union officials on 17th February McCall made no reference to the three fire station closures prospect and did not provide any assurance on it, despite having responded to it in the media and thus clearly having been aware of the concerns.
The union also opposes a change to a PFCC because it believes it would be an undemocratic change, because it would give fire management to a single official answerable only to a weak scrutiny panel, as opposed to having it as part of the responsibility of Cumbria Council, which is managed by an 84-strong council chamber, or its unitary authority successor which will have a similarly-strong council chamber.
The union also believes that fire and rescue service management and police management should be kept separate due to the fact that they are different services. Importantly, fire and rescue is different from policing in that it is concerned with providing a humanitarian service, based on need, not legal status. Furthermore, any association between the fire and rescue service and law enforcement could damage public safety, with public trust considered essential for firefighters to carry out their duties.
Here, the union is particularly concerned that Mr McCall has stated that there can be better joint working between the two services, as firefighters do not want to be seen as enforcers of law and want to keep their humanitarian image of serving all regardless of the situation.
