Hi all,
Does anyone else out there feel that height vehicles are being used as a means of cutting costs? In particular I would like to here from firefighters in Kent, especially wholetime, as I am studying (for my own interest) the opinions of the guys that make the service.
It has come to my attention that due to the brigade becoming more business focussed rather than serviced focussed, the classic 'cost cutting' is seeming to take effect.
For example, wholetime crews are being transferred from incidents to return to their home stations to pickk up height vehicles and go to another incident, As well as this, it has now become common place for control to ring around stations trying to find a height vehicle crew, only to find the nearest heght vehicle to the incident is a fair distance away.
Is this yet another example of cost cuttting on a drastic scale? Once again, i use this point... Kent did not decide that they needed 7 height vehicled for a laugh, they implemented them for a reason.
Another point I would like to bring up is that once upon a time, not so, long ago, height vehicles used to be manned on a permanent basis. Now alternate manning (1 per division i beleive in Kent, correct me if i'm wrong) is now the standard. This only changes if a full watch are on duty and then any station with enough firefighters then telephones control to inform them that there height vehicle is manned. It has also beenm known for Rescue pump ladders to go off the run to man a height vehicle, leaving little or no RPL cover for the area. Once again, is this cost cutting on a drastic and dangerous level?
Firedaven41
