Fire Authority puts lives at risk with their cuts

Devon and Somerset Fire Authority have decided to put pennies before public safety by adopting plans, revealed at the last minute, and not debated upon or put out to consultation, to cut 24 firefighters' jobs from Barnstaple, Exeter and Torquay. The Authority also decided to introduce dual-crewing of all aerial platforms in Devon. This would mean if another large fire broke out like the recent one in Ilfracombe, firefighters would have to choose whether to take an engine OR an aerial platform.

Devon and Somerset Fire Authority have presented the plan as a choice made "between a rock and a hard place". It is true that the Government has cut funds to the Authority, which is symptomatic of this New Labour Government. They would sooner see public funds go to shareholders through privatisation and PFI (Private Finance Initiative, where schools and NHS trusts have to pay extortionate sums to rent premises from private companies) than to frontline public services and the people carrying out those services.

However, the Fire Brigades' Union put forward a 'third way', enabling the Authority to save money while maintaining services. The Fire Authority decided to ignore these proposals, which included reviewing the salary levels of those in senior management positions. Surprisingly, Chief Fire Officer Paul Young (who earns a mere £135,000 a year) didn't support these plans.

As you might imagine, FBU officials, including station representatives and Devon & Somerset Brigade Secretary Trevor French, are furious with the cuts. The Fire Authority has ignored the warnings from firefighters and the overwhelming opposition to the cuts by the public.

Speaking to the Devon Socialist Party website, Barnstaple firefighter and Socialist Party member James Leslie summed up the feelings of firefighters - "There's a lot of anger at the plans, and a feeling that management have let down the public and firefighters". He also pointed out that the Authority had previously rejected the plans to dual-crew aerial platforms due to the risk to the public, "but suddenly they're OK".

Devon Socialist Party remains completely opposed to the cuts, which will put lives at risk. It seems likely that next year the Government will come back and reduce the Fire Authority's grant even further, and also try to introduce more private sector involvement.

We will continue to campaign against the cuts and will support any action the FBU decides upon. Secretary Trevor French is hinting at strike action, which obviously firefighters would be very reluctant to do. However we are facing, not just in fire services but in the NHS, schools and other essential public services, death by a thousand cuts and the increasing involvement of private companies who are interested in profit, not people.

What is needed is united action by public sector unions to fight for 'public services not private profit'. We also need a party that will represent such a campaign politically - a party for workers, for public services, and not a party that represents the needs of big business, as the three main parties do.

Above all we need to replace the system that puts the enrichment of a greedy few before the needs and wants of the many - capitalism. We need to replace that with a system where people have real democratic control over their lives, where they work and society as a whole - socialism.

We say 'no' to the divide and rule tactics of Devon and Somerset Fire Authority

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.

No to fire cuts!

The recently honoured Chief Fire Officer of Devon and Somerset, Paul Young, is pressing ahead with plans to remove full time fire cover from towns across Devon and Somerset, echoing cuts that have had fatal consequences elsewhere, such as Newquay.

Devon Socialist Party completely condemns this dangerous penny-pinching and fully supports the fight of the FBU and all other local campaigns against the cuts. It is obvious to us that the proposed cuts are universally unpopular. We have collected many signatures against the cuts across Devon. Some opponents of cuts try to plead a special case for their town. We have seen this in Exmouth and Ilfracombe. This is not only a strategy that would disastrously undermine the unity that is needed to bin the proposal, but also if successful would only give the town a temporary reprieve until the next round of cuts.

We call for unity across Devon and Somerset against all cuts. We stand against measures which seem to be aimed at opening the Fire Service up for privatisation, which FBU general secretary, speaking at our Socialism 2007 event in November, made clear is top of the Government's agenda for the Fire Service, just as it is for the NHS, education and postal services.

No to fire service cuts!

After the usual sham of 'consultation', Devon and Somerset Fire Authority have decided to axe 25 jobs in the fire service in Devon, despite a budget surplus of £1 million. The jobs will go in Barnstaple, Exeter, Plymouth and Torquay and will leave these towns and cities and the areas they serve undermanned. In the event that an aerial hydraulic platform is needed for a rescue, firefighters will have to leave their posts either manning another engine or fighting a fire to operate it.

It seems fire chiefs have learnt absolutely nothing from the tragedy in Newquay over the summer, when three people died in the fire at the Penhallow Hotel. Fire cuts in Cornwall meant there were not enough firefighters or working equipment locally to tackle the blaze. Firefighters and equipment had to come from Plymouth (50 miles away).

As with the NHS and the postal services, we must fight to retain adequate levels of fire cover. Cuts kill, and the Devon Socialist Party is campaigning for no cuts in firefighters, engines or equipment, and for firefighters to be properly paid for the dangerous but essential work they do. The Fire Brigades Union is urging people to write to the Chief Fire Officer for Devon and Somerset to protest against these dangerous and unnecessary cuts. Please send your letters of protest (when the postal workers are moving to rolling strikes next week) to:

Chief Fire Officer
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service
SHQ
Clyst St George
Exeter
EX3 0NW