On Friday 7th July, Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service announced the sudden departure of its Chief Fire Officer, Mark Jones.
In a letter to employees, Police Fire and Crime Commissioner Stephen Mold announced that he was appointing his own Head of Paid Staff Nicci Marzec as the county’s Interim Chief Fire Officer. This is highly unusual, as Marzek has never worked in the Fire Sector.
Adam Taylor, Fire Brigades Union Executive Council representative for the East Midlands, said:
The Fire Brigades Union is very concerned about the appointment of an Interim Chief Fire Officer who has never worked in the fire sector and has no operational understanding of the role which is required to keep the communities of Northamptonshire safe.
The Fire Service is a complex operation and firefighting is a highly skilled, technical profession. Recruiting externally for senior operational roles means that the most senior decision-maker will have no practical experience of using equipment, responding to incidents or keeping firefighters and the public safe in fires, floods and other callouts.
This appointment was made without adequate democratic process or scrutiny – and is further evidence of the unsuitability of the Police Fire and Crime Commissioner governance arrangement in the fire service.
The FBU will speak with members and raise this issue with the PFCC at a meeting next week."
