The Fire Brigades Union has condemned Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service’s decision to send on call firefighters to incidents in under-resourced crews of three per engine.
A team of five firefighters is the safe operational standard. Three firefighters arriving at an incident are unable to operate breathing apparatus, or to respond to high-risk incidents. On-call firefighters will continue to attend automatic fire alarms, which have the potential to be life threatening.
130 Staffordshire firefighters signed a letter in opposition to the reduction in crew size, leading to 10 on-call stations being removed from the trial, citing concerns that teams of three do not have the capacity to safety respond to high-risk incidents.
The FBU has described the service’s public consultation process and trial of the policy as “misleading” and "deeply flawed”.
Martin Starkey, Fire Brigades Union brigade secretary for Staffordshire said:
Staffordshire fire and rescue service are putting public and firefighter safety on the line by sending on-call firefighter crews out in crews of just three in a fire engine.
A crew of three firefighters is fundamentally incapable of safely responding to high-risk incidents upon arrival. The public consultation cited to support this reckless policy was deeply flawed, with only 1,500 respondents answering a question deliberately framed to elicit a specific answer. Such a low level of participation cannot be taken as evidence of any meaningful support for this dangerous approach."
When a fire engine arrives at an incident, you expect the firefighters on board to have the resources to help, but a crew of three has to wait for back-up. 130 firefighters involved in the trial made their opposition to this policy loud and clear. Staffordshire fire and rescue service must put firefighter and public safety first and reverse this decision.”
Matt Wrack, Fire Brigades Union general secretary said:
Firefighters across the UK have made it clear that sending firefighters out in crews of just three is unsafe and unacceptable. No fire and rescue service should be putting public safety at risk in this way.
Firefighters should never be put in the terrible position of waiting at an incident for back-up, unable to take action safely because there are only three in the team. A team of five firefighters is the professional and safe operational level.
Staffordshire fire and rescue service must face reality and put an end to this dangerous policy immediately.”
