At the recent meeting in Ilfracombe held by campaigners looking to stop the attempt by Devon and Somerset Fire Authority to remove full-time manning from four stations in Devon (Ilfracombe, Exmouth, Paignton and Plympton), FBU secretary Trevor French condemned attempts by the Authority to set "one station against another as a means of being able to divide and conquer." He is spot on, as is the FBU approach to this problem, and the problem of the previous proposals to remove dedicated crews from aerial platforms in several towns, a measure that was defeated. The proposal as a whole needs to be defeated as a concept, not just as the right concept but in the wrong towns. It is an absolute matter of public safety that all areas the size of Ilfracombe need full-time crews. Even the Chief Fire Officer admitted as much when he conceded that simply maintaining a retained crew would increase response times.
The aerial platform cuts were wrong, these staffing cuts are wrong. They are wrong everywhere, not just Ilfracombe, not just Devon. Unfortunately, Rodney Cann, a member of the Fire Authority and Tory county councillor for Fremington in North Devon, said that the aerial platform cuts should be looked at again rather than the staffing cuts. Others at the meeting agreed. However, the reason we and the FBU opposed those cuts was public safety as well. Only a few months ago a large fire in Ilfracombe needed a quick response from the aerial platform in Barnstaple.
We must demand no cuts, no exceptions. The FBU are of the same mind. They are aware of the safety implications far more than opportunistic Tories looking to get on a bandwagon while passing cuts. A curious argument for the front-line cuts by Trevor Stratford, the assistant Chief Fire Officer was that 90% of the budget for Ilfracombe goes on front-line services (i.e. equipment and staff) - in other words, it is already cut to the bone, so lets cut into the bone.
We demand:
A fully funded and well staffed and equipped fire service where the priority is public safety not budget cuts. There is plenty of money for the shareholders of privatised public services, nuclear weapons and war, we demand it is spent on essential public services.
A public fire service, with no place for private profit.
Wages and conditions of service for firefighters and other important staff, that they deserve - much better.
