Northamptonshire firefighters travelled to Westminster to raise serious concerns over fire service “chaos” caused by combining police force and fire service governance.
Firefighters are raising the alarm following the conduct of Northamptonshire’s police fire and crime commissioner (PFCC), Stephen Mold. The PFCC has now twice selected a chief fire officer with no operational firefighting experience to lead the service, despite public outcry.
Fire Brigades Union representatives held a meeting in Parliament, attended by shadow fire minister Alex Norris. Fire minister Chris Philp did not respond to the invitation to meet.
Adam Taylor, FBU executive council member, said:
Today, Northamptonshire firefighters travelled to Westminster to raise serious concerns about the chaos at the top of their fire service.
Our members were disappointed that fire minister Chris Philp did not accept the invitation to discuss the disgraceful conduct of police, fire and crime commissioner Stephen Mold.
However, we were pleased to meet with shadow fire minister Alex Norris. We expect any future Labour government to commit to ensuring fire services are run democratically, and are accountable and independent from police forces.
Firefighters will continue sounding the alarm until Stephen Mold is held to account.”
