Firefighters’ union warns of ‘major threat to public safety’ around East Sussex changes

At a meeting on Thursday (April 23), the East Sussex Fire Authority agreed to go out to consultation on a range of proposals for how the fire service should be run, known as an integrated risk management plan (IRMP).

However, the plans – which include major staffing changes – have come in for criticism from the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), which claims the fire service is attempting to “sneak through cuts while the public focuses on the pandemic.”

Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said:“The prime minister and other government ministers are asking people to clap for frontline workers on a Thursday, while their policies continue gutting frontline services. It’s shameless hypocrisy.

“While firefighters are taking on sweeping new areas of work to keep their communities safe, they have been completely betrayed by fire chiefs and politicians.

“Frankly, we don’t know what the world will look like on the other side of this pandemic. Across the political spectrum, people are crying out that we cannot go back to normal – and that has to mean an end to brutal cuts to frontline services.

“We have entered national negotiations in good faith to help communities through this crisis. If politicians and the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) want that to continue, they need to step in and stop these cuts.

“This could be the first of many attempts to sneak through cuts to services while the public focuses on the pandemic. If politicians think they are going to make public services pay for this crisis, then they are sadly mistaken.”

Launched last Friday (April 24) the consultation is set to run until June 19, with a final decision expected to be made in September.

The proposals include controversial staffing changes and could mean East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service (ESFRS) would no longer come out to rescue birds stuck in nets or attend fire alarms at ‘low-risk’ commercial properties.

It would also be likely to see slower response times at weekends and evenings in some areas, the fire service says.

The largest change would come for the fire service’s day-crewed stations: Battle, Bexhill, Crowborough, Lewes, Newhaven, and Uckfield.

Under the proposals, these stations would become “day-only”, meaning they would only be manned between nine and five, Monday to Friday. On-call crews (staying within five minutes of the stations) would respond during evenings and weekends.

These on-call crews currently work evenings, but not during the day on weekends.

Across the stations this change would lead to the loss of between 27 and 33 posts, although the fire service says it would seek to redeploy firefighters to a new “flexible working pool” to provide cover across the county.

While this would be a major change to contracts, it is currently unclear whether this would see staff being laid off rather than redeployed.

Wholetime fire stations – which are manned by firefighters 24/7 – are also set to undergo major changes to working conditions.

This would affect up to five wholetime fire stations: Bohemia Road in Hastings, Eastbourne, Hove, Preston Circus and Roedean.

The proposals would also see the Ridge fire station in Hastings cease to be a wholetime fire station and instead become day-crewed. It would not become a “day-only” station, however.

All these changes are opposed by the FBU, which says it has concerns around safety and working conditions.

The proposals also include cuts to the number of fire engines the fire service has, with many fire stations reducing down to a single engine.

This will affect Battle, Bexhill, Crowborough, Lewes, Newhaven, Rye, Uckfield, Seaford, Heathfield and Wadhurst fire stations.

East Sussex FBU chairman Simon Herbert said: “Firefighters are out on the frontline helping our communities through this crisis whilst still responding to fires and other emergencies.

“Meanwhile, our fire authority has thanked us by beginning the process of decimating our emergency response capabilities and ability to save lives, all from the safety of their living rooms.

“These proposals are dangerous and will seriously damage the availability of fire crews throughout East Sussex. These proposals deserve proper public scrutiny – not an ill-thought-out consultation process snuck out in the middle of the pandemic.”

Fire service bosses dispute this view, however.

Fire authority chairman Roy Galley said: “It’s very important that we ensure members of the public have their say on any proposals the Fire Authority considers.

“In these difficult times, we are taking additional steps to make sure the consultation is fair and open. Our independent experts will be contacting hundreds of people by phone to take part in our survey.  Thousands more will be contacted by post.

“We are also holding online focus groups so people can give their views without having to leave their homes.”

Chief Fire Officer Dawn Whittaker added: “At the moment, most of our resources are used to respond to emergencies.

“We want to have a better balance between this and our work to prevent these emergencies before they happen.

“A great deal of analysis and hard work has gone into developing these proposals and they represent an important milestone in ensuring that we can continue to deliver an effective service to our local communities.

“We believe it is right to go ahead with the consultation at this time because we need to make decisions to improve our performance and remain financially stable.”

To comment visit the survey website.

The survey runs until June 19. The findings of the consultation will be considered at a Fire Authority meeting in September.

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