Retained firefighter reduced crew number pilot sparks safety fears

The scheme, which could reduce the minimum crew for a retained appliance from four to three fire-fighters, is being piloted in the south of the county.

While “whole time” fire stations are staffed 24 hours a day, a number of the county’s sites are not. And Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service is looking to make these “retained” services more available to respond to incidents, following another move to reduce minimum crew requirements from five to four.

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Ben Adams’s annual report, presented to a meeting this month, said: “Staffordshire has followed other services in adopting flexible crewing policies, including operating with a minimum crew of four fire-fighters and pairing on-call stations. This is proving effective in improving response times and increasing resilience without compromising fire-fighter safety.”

Mr Adams told the Police, Fire and Crime Panel meeting: “We were running a very high overtime bill in bringing people in if somebody was ill or off-duty to make up a team of five on our whole-time fire-fighter response. We were one of just three or four forces in the whole country that were still doing that rather than a team of four going out.

“We did a very extensive pilot and consultation around that. There was some resistance and some concern.

“It’s something I’m still monitoring and very interested to see where we might have more regular “running in fours” than in other parts of the county. I’m very pleased to report in the main it is entirely safe and it has led to rapid response of the right kind.”

But Leek councillor Charlotte Atkins said: “I would like your reassurance that the rumour going round that you’re thinking of having crews of three is not correct. There has been some suggestion that there would be a crew of three, which would not meet with national guidelines on safety.”

Mr Adams responded: “Threes is a pilot we’re looking at particularly in South Staffordshire, where we’re very dependent on on-call fire-fighters. These are the fire-fighters that, for 60 hours a week, will drop everything and run to the station and try to make up a team – quite often not the first team on sight because in South Staffs lot of first response is by the West Mids whole time fire-fighters – but in parts of the county very much part of the team that tackles incidents.

“If we can get more on-call fire-fighters there as teams of threes than not there at all, that is what we’re exploring. At the moment if they’re not in a four, they don’t go, and quite often being there in a three is a very effective support for the other teams that are there.

“We’re piloting this and there are two reasons; firstly more teams at an incident and secondly we need more on-call fire-fighters. At the moment it is getting more and more difficult to attract people, particularly if they’re not responding to incidents and getting the feedback they need from all their training and commitment.

“By being out in threes it builds up their experience, builds up their local knowledge and confidence and they can be out on more jobs. It probably means they are going to stick around as an on-call fire-fighter for longer and they will be more professional as a result.

“I’m very happy to come back later in the year when we know how well that’s worked out in South Staffs. It will not roll out wider unless it works – and it must be safe.

“If, by exception, they ride in threes, they will have a different scale of duties they can undertake at the incident. It might be more of a supportive duty than a direct tackling of an incident, but often you have two, three or four teams where every individual who can be there is an asset.

“The safety of the fire-fighters is paramount and is non-negotiable. Everybody’s interests are in the right place on that.”

Councillor Atkins replied: “Nationally, four is being seen as the safe minimum standard. And whether they’re on call fire-fighters or not, safety of fire-fighters is the absolutely crucial number one issue.

“I’m very alarmed. I appreciate what you’re saying that they may not be the first team there, but in certain circumstances they could well be, particularly given climate change and the fact we’re dealing with many more spontaneous fires.

“I’m really concerned about that and I know lots of people are very concerned. I appreciate we have a large number of vacancies and efficiency requires improvement, but that is no reason at all to put firefighters’ health and safety at risk.”