Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service: We will not cut firefighter crews
Firefighters will not be axed as part of multi-million pound cuts to Staffordshire Fire and Rescue service while bosses have also vowed compulsory redundancies to other workers will be avoided.
The organisation needs to save £2.8m in the next three years but chiefs have confirmed to the Express & Star its response capability will not be reduced.
It comes after the fire service (SFRS) announced its Corporate Safety Plan for 2017 - 2020.
Glynn Luznyj, director of prevent and protect, said: "The headline for me is that to date savings have been with no compulsory redundancies and we don't envisage making compulsory redundancies.
"And we will not be reducing the number of firefighters responding to incidents, nor reducing appliances between now and 2020.
"We have a robust efficiency plan in place.
"We needed to save £4m over four years and now there is £2.8m left to save by 2020.
"That is as much as we can say at this point due to the reduction in Government revenue support grant.
"There are a number of things coming into play. We will be restructuring our staff models and we are naturally negotiating with trade unions and the work force.
"There will likely by redundancies but they will be voluntary.
"We have already gone through our community safety options and did make some changes to the existing fire cover.
"A lot savings will come from the ongoing collaboration with other agencies, in particular the police.
"For instance we currently share our transport depot in Stoke, which maintains our joint fleets of vehicles. That has yielded significant efficiencies and there will be other opportunities to collaborate with partners in the future."
The plan has been put together following consultation with focus groups and Mr Luznyj said it was clear the public had raised their expectations of the fire service.
He added: "Over the years there has been a change in the public perception of the fire service.
"Ten years ago people would have said they want a fully trained and efficient fire crew if they had a fire. But it's obvious from the work we've done people expect far more now.
"They appreciate the value of us doing prevention work like the home visit programme, the education and engagement with young people, the support we provide for the health service.
"We have got 21 fire stations which are fantastic community facilities, thousands of people use them. We are becoming a facilitator for other services and agencies making a positive difference in people's lives."
