North firefighters fear for their safety

Oct 20 2008 by Paul Loraine, The Journal

FIREFIGHTERS in the North East are claiming they are fearful for their safety as a result of inadequate training.

Fire Brigades Union (FBU) bosses believe there has been too big a shift in priorities towards preventative work such as fitting fire alarms and educating schoolchildren.

While they acknowledged the importance of the community work, they believe it has “diverted attention” from training and also taken away vital numbers from the front line.

Steve Gregg, North East regional secretary for the FBU, said 13 firefighters had been killed in the line of duty across the country in the last five years, as opposed to just one in the five years before that.

“Something must be going wrong somewhere for the figures to go up so dramatically. It’s about getting a balance and there’s been far too big a shift in the direction of prevention work,” he said.

“As a union we totally support resources going into prevention but not at the expense of intervention work.

“You would never get the police service doing that – putting more community officers out there at the expense of bobbies on the beat.

“Since 2003, every fire authority in the country has lost front line staff and we now have an army of consultants, mentors and analysts.

“From going around stations, people are worried – that’s the message that’s coming across loud and clear.”

Meanwhile, chairman of the FBU for Northumberland Gary Wilson said firefighter deaths were invariably caused by inadequate training.

“It’s often either a lack of the right equipment, because of funding, or a lack of training – which is the biggest issue.

“Although nationally the figures for fire deaths are decreasing, the statistics for firefighter deaths are increasing. Everybody connected with the fire service is concerned about this.

“All these things we are being asked to do in terms of community safety, we don’t spend enough time training on the basic fire fighting skills.”

Jim Cousins, Labour MP for Newcastle Central, said he was “extremely proud” of Tyne and Wear Fire service and how it has dealt with major fires in his constituency. They have always taken training extremely seriously,” he said. “Obviously the educational work of the fire brigade is extremely important but that shouldn’t be at the expense of training.

“That is true particularly with today’s building structures which are often more difficult for firefighters than the kind of buildings we had in the past.”

Labour MP for Blaydon Dave Anderson said he thought the service should not have to compromise either their educational work or safer firefighting.

“We are talking about saving people’s lives here.

“There shouldn’t be a limit on funding,” he said.

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Meeting FBU

THE fears were raised by firefighters in a YouGov poll which asked FBU members how they would spend money on improving the fire and rescue service.

Of those polled, 86% said more training, 85% said more frontline personnel and 59% said modern and safe personal radios.

Responding to the concerns, Fire Minister Sadiq Khan said: “I am looking forward to meeting with FBU leaders later this week to discuss these issues and explain how strongly we value our firefighters and their safety.

“We have provided £400m PFI investment for new fire stations, equipment and training facilities, as well as £15m in the Fire Service College to provide state of the art training.”

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Regime defended

THE three North East fire services last night defended their training regimes.

Ivan Millican, Northumberland Fire and Rescue learning development manager, said they would never compromise the safety of their officers.

“We put operational training at the forefront of all our training. There has been a change in focus for the fire service but the resources which provide training have still been maintained.”

Peter Trevithick, area manager for human resources, learning and development at Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service said: “Our highly-skilled and motivated staff are our greatest asset and Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service devotes a significant amount of time and resources to their learning and development.

“All operational firefighters undertake training each day while they are on duty. All community fire stations within the Tyne and Wear area have a varied range of training facilities.

“In addition we also have a purpose-built training centre at Barmston Mere, Washington, which provides state of the art practical and theoretical facilities to ensure sure that our staff are suitably prepared for their roles and responsibilities, and are provided with the knowledge, skills and understanding to enable them to perform their job safely, efficiently and effectively.”

Alan Kernohan, group manager for Durham Fire and Rescue service, said the training budget had continually increased over the past few years.

“If we identify problems in training, we provide the level of training that they need,” he said.