‘Dangerous’ cuts to fire service could endanger public and crews

Councillors have reluctantly approved plans to decimate the Bristol area’s full-time frontline firefighters despite warnings that it will put lives and homes at risk.

Avon Fire Authority committee heard 40 posts needed to be cut to plug a £2m budget gap.

Members said it was the “least worst option” because it meant no fire stations or fire engines would be lost.

But the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) told the meeting on Wednesday that the cuts were “dangerous” and endangered both residents and crews.

FBU Avon brigade secretary Amanda Mills said householders would be left without adequate cover and that firefighters’ safety in life-or-death situations was on the line without the necessary resources.

“The reduction of 40 firefighters amounts to just over ten per cent of wholetime frontline staff,” Mills told the meeting at Avon Fire & Rescue Service headquarters in Portishead.

“Should your constituents who we serve accept these dangerous cuts?”

Mills said the savings, which would be made largely through reducing crew sizes from five to four on water tender ladders that attend incidents, would have a huge impact.

She said more wildfires and flooding were expected because of climate change while the population served by firefighters increased every year.

“Can we really be expected to do more with less?” Mills asked councillors.

“Firefighters help people in their hour of need and should not be bystanders waiting for additional resources to arrive.”

She said the FBU would not stay silent while AFRS “makes do with inadequate funding” and that the union was committed to fighting for more government money but that the fire authority must stand with it.

Fire crews from across Bristol helped fight the blaze at the former Grosvenor Hotel – photo: Martin Booth

Tory Bishopsworth councillor, Richard Eddy, said: “I don’t believe a single member around this table wants to receive this report today or make this decision.

“But equally we can’t play Pontius Pilate. We have a statutory duty to maintain a balanced budget and very reluctantly it does seem that the officer recommendation is the least worst option.

“No fire station will be closed, no fire appliance taken off the road.”

Fire authority chair and Labour councillor for Southmead, Brenda Massey, said: “We all feel similar about this. It’s not something we would want to do but we have to do it and we will make the best out of it that we possibly can.”

Chief fire officer Simon Shilton added: “We are looking at how we can do things differently to ensure we meet efficiency savings required, reinvest in areas to be more agile and make our service stronger and communities safer.

“In an ideal world we would not have to make these difficult decisions but unfortunately the harsh reality is that we must take the funding we have and find innovative ways to use our resources.

“We will not compromise firefighter safety, we will work with trade unions to ensure we put the right policies and procedures in place while finding these efficiency savings.”

Firefighters taking part in a recent charity challenge at Ashton Gate – photo: Avon Fire & Rescue Service

The 40 firefighters to be cut will be made over the next three years through retirements and not redundancies.

Members voted 12-2, with one abstention, in favour of having four personnel on every pumping appliance at wholetime stations, apart from Hicks Gate in Keynsham whose ladder vehicles would remain at five, subject to “any unforeseen risk to service delivery to the public and firefighters” or unless the funding position improves and the plans can be abandoned.

Two other proposals were agreed unanimously: flexible crewing at Yate wholetime fire station and investing in a smaller vehicle to respond to automatic fire alarms in Bristol instead of sending a standard fire engine.

Main photo: Martin Booth

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