Leics Fire and Rescue Service Cuts

[Mike Buckley]

http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/stations-face-closure-nearly-90-jobs-lost-cuts/story-27813313-detail/story.html

I am not too surprised about closing Central Fire Station it was built in the 1920's. I served there in the 1980's and even then it was a tight squeeze getting some of the appliances into the bays.

The local BBC news was saying that they are intending to cut 19 appliances from the fleet leaving just 11.

[jokar]

Have to pay for Claudio some how.

[kurnal]

As always it would be interesting to see how the balance of operational / non operational personnel has changed over the years if any statistics are available. I know fire deaths are down and this is to be celebrated but if they insist on cutting those at the sharp end this trend will soon come to an end. Too much emphasis on past statistics and not enough focus on potential for my liking.

[kurnal]

Was chatting with a fire service upper mid tier manager the other day and hearing of the challenges facing the service, in particular financial. But above all one thing came across clearer than anything, the feeling of powerlessness to influence change or voice dissent, that any converse opinions are treated as hostile and disloyal to the corporate position which is directed from national and local politicians with little influence those charged with delivering the core services.  In the old days we had a clear understanding of our core business- operational, enforcement and to a lesser informal extent education. And the best way of delivering those core services in a safe and effective manner was determined by the managers, promoted from within the service. People who were considered to have initiative, ideas, imagination or wisdom or other skills making them worthy of promotion and influence over the direction of the service.  Was that such a bad thing?   Or have I got the rose tinted glasses on again? And would such managers ever have agreed to the wholesale introduction of two firefighters responding in vans, as proposed for Hampshire according to the news?

[SamFIRT]

For many, many, years staff in the fire service moaned and complained about their officers. Saying how useless they were! For they were promoted through the ranks and almost "none of them had a university education", said the non uniformed managers; and the ones that were promoted "were no good on the fire ground" , said the fire fighters and junior officers. Then the politicians listened and introduced managers. Who then, in turn, introduced managerialisum. This has led to the application of 'personal qualities and attributes' being the deciding factor when promoting staff. There is now no perceived need for technical knowledge. Because the operational officer only responds to an incident 5% of their employed time. Really!?! It is a good thing fire safety work, including community safety work, has reduced injuries and fire deaths. It is a bad thing there is now no perceived need for fire and rescue emergency response. For there is a real need! This will grow into a crisis if their is a civil defence emergency. Mark my words. End of rant!