BUDGET cuts could be compromising the safety of the island’s firefighters.
An independent audit of the Guernsey Fire and Rescue Service has backed the reinstatement of two firefighter posts lost through rationalisation in 2007.
The Scottish Fire & Rescue Advisory Unit review, the first since 2002, recommends initial response crews of least nine to ensure safety. The GF&RS currently has 65 full-time and 24 part-time staff.
Chief officer Ron Taylor said he had also called for the reinstatement in his annual report for 2008.
‘We are not talking about needing nine for every incident, it’s mainly property fires, but we don’t know what we are up against until we get there,’ he said.
‘It’s a dangerous job and crews need to have a safe system in order to function properly.’
He said the only other way to meet the recommendation was to disband the community safety initiative, which he was reluctant to do.
Three firefighters work full-time on this throughout the week, speaking in schools, workplaces, running media campaigns, carrying out fire safety checks in homes and fitting fire alarms.
Mr Taylor said statistics showed that the scheme had been a major contributor to the reduction in call-outs over the last eight years and it had helped significantly reduce damage to property, injuries, and potential loss of lives.
‘I realise that it’s not the time to be asking for more troops but we have to look at the bigger picture,’ he said. ‘But at the moment the Home Department is saying it doesn’t have the money.’
Home minister Geoff Mahy said his board commended Mr Taylor and his staff. Guernsey could be proud of the excellent service provided and this was highlighted in the report. The overall number of attendances in 2008 fell for the eighth year in succession and there were the fewest fires for 33 years.
Deputy Mahy said he had discussed staffing with Mr Taylor and his deputy. It was Mr Taylor’s responsibility how staff were deployed but the board was against compromising safety.
‘We believe he should look first of all at giving priority to dealing with emergency calls first and perhaps less to other areas of the service,’ he said.
He said the board had already spent £800,000 on refurbishing the fire station to a high standard.
Mr Taylor said one additional operational firefighter could be found through internal means but wanted to reinstate the two posts lost through budget cuts.
Initial response crews currently had a minimum of eight. There were nine on some occasions but those had got fewer since the 2007 cuts and were now below 50%. Mr Taylor was looking at ways to increase the number of nine-crew turnouts but said that any difference could be only minimal.
The SF&RAU recommendation was based on British best practice and the local service was not obliged to implement it.
The overall assessment of the GF&RS was that it was well managed, with a flexible and motivated workforce, good standards of equipment, good strategic partnership working and good developing community safety initiatives.
Article posted on 19th June, 2009 - 2.30pm
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