Letter: The “Making Surrey Safer” Plan Does Not Give the Full Picture

Published on: 22 Oct, 2019
Updated on: 21 Oct, 2019

From Jon Beamson

Surrey Fire Brigade/Surrey Fire & Rescue Service, 1973 till 2004.

I sent a reply to an article “The Making Surrey Safer plan” on the Worplesdon Matters website. It is about removing seven Surrey fire appliances (engines) at night, among other things. The article is believed to have been written by Tory County Councillor Keith Witham [Worplesdon] who is listed as a contact for the website.

(A letter from Cllr Witham on the subject was also published in The Dragon: How SCC Is Improving Our Fire and Rescue Services To Make Surrey Safe)

My letter was not published in Worplesdon Matters but here it is again.

The article states: “More firefighters are being recruited and trained (82 so far this year).” This is because Surrey Fire & Rescue Service has not recruited full-time entrants for the past eight years. During that time dozens of firefighters have left due to retirement, ill-health, joining fire services elsewhere, a career change or just out of disillusionment. The staffing levels have been at a critically low level for quite some time.

“No redundancies” This is true. Only because they are so short of people anyway.

“No fire station closures” Staines and Sunbury were closed and replaced by a single fire station in Ashford, known as Fordbridge.

Until April 2020, this new station has two standard engines whose primary purpose is fire-fighting. From April 2020, Surrey County Council has already admitted no funding will be available for the second engine so effectively this will become a regular one-pump station, to use fire service parlance.

Where there were two fire stations covering Spelthorne there will be just one fire engine at one fire station.

“A tenfold increase in prevention visits/community safety visits from 2,000 a year to 20,000 a year, to those most at risk from fire, the elderly, disabled and vulnerable people, and to businesses and schools.”

I would like to see proof of these statistics. I have read on an unofficial site from a serving firefighter, supported by other serving firefighters that, in the past year where records were made known, the actual number of “Safe & Well visits”, as they are known, amounted to just under 500.

We need to see proven facts, not unachievable aspirations.

“The plans modernise SFRS.” The modernisation of the fire service in Surrey started many years ago. It was deemed “modern” to make all of the cooks and cleaners redundant, leaving firefighters to prepare, cook, consume and clean up after their main meal of the nine-hour day-shift or 15-hour night-shift in just one hour.

The night-shift firefighters, those skilled technicians well-trained to use life-saving equipment often worth many thousands of pounds, spend an hour of their shift sweeping floors and cleaning toilets.

The number of operational firefighters on a standard engine was originally promised in 2010 to be either kept at five in the case of one-pump stations, or increased from four to five on the two-pump stations. Exactly the opposite has happened. Now a standard engine has just four firefighters.

The Standard Operating Procedures that apply to all English fire and rescue services decree two standard engines must be in attendance at a building before firefighters in breathing apparatus can begin internal rescues and internal firefighting. But who rescues the rescuers if they get into danger? Think about it.

Interestingly, there has been no modernisation of the firefighters’ basic working week, comprising of a standard 42 hours, since 1979.

Pro-rata, the average local authority firefighter working these hours is earning less than the average wage earned by workers on the usual 35-hour week. Not very modern, I would suggest.

“………vulnerable people – those most at risk of fire, have working smoke alarms and know what to do when a fire occurs”. Vulnerable people will include aged and infirm people, many non-ambulant, many dependant on assistance to get from one room to another, many suffering with age-related mental issues such as dementia and suchlike.

Also worrying is the recent revelation by BBC News on 12 September 2019 that in tests, seven out of eight children slept through the sound of a smoke alarm. Smoke detectors are vital and do a good job, but they do not fight a fire or make a call to the fire service.

“Journey times are reduced by up to 50% during the night.” This may well be true, but the proposals are that certain fire engines will not be available from 6pm until 9am or, as suspected, 7pm to 7am. In my experience, many roads are still very busy indeed in the early to mid-evening and early to mid-morning.

“If you need help Surrey Fire & Rescue will always send the most appropriate and quickest response to you, wherever you are in the county.” No guarantees of any sort then. We’ll get there when we can, and may God be on your side if there are two incidents at the same time in your area, or if there is just one major incident happening at the same time as your urgent need.

“SCC has recruited 82 new firefighters so far this year and continues to recruit.” This means Surrey will have between a quarter and a third of its operational workforce with very little experience and training behind them for some time.

With fewer fires and no training centre at service headquarters any more, these people will take an inordinate time to get up to speed to replace those who have left the service in the past eight years.

“Surrey will still have an Animal Rescue Unit”. Yes it will, but when the word gets out that you are likely to get a bill for dialling 999 to help an animal in distress, there will be fewer calls and more animals will suffer and die.

“We also have long-standing arrangements in place with neighbouring Fire and Rescue Services…” Yes, and how very important are they in attending incidents within Surrey, due to Surrey having insufficient resources much of the time.

Surrey can cope with a few small incidents occurring simultaneously, but one very big job or many small incidents at the same time. Reliance is placed on London, Hampshire, Kent, Royal Berkshire, East & West Sussex and Buckinghamshire.
“Over the past decade there has been a dramatic fall in the number of fires in Surrey”. (See: https://www.fbu.org.uk/news/2019/01/02/fire-incidents-rise-firefighter-numbers-are-drastically-cut-says-fire-brigades-union)

Firefighters are expected to do more with less, putting public safety at risk, says Fire Brigades Union.

In response to a question from shadow fire minister Karen Lee, the Minister (Nick Hurd) stated that attendance at fire incidents is decreasing, yet Home Office figures reveal fire incidents in England increased by 3% in the last year to just under 170,000, the highest level since 2013-14.

Non-fire incidents, such as flooding, rescues and road traffic collisions, caused the largest increase, with firefighters responding to more than 170,000 incidents in England, an 18% increase since 2010-11.

Fire fatalities also increased in 2017-18, the worst year for fire deaths since 2010-11, only in part because of the Grenfell tragedy.

Since 2010-11, more than 9,000 fire and rescue service jobs in England have been lost, a 20% cut. The number of whole-time firefighters has fallen by just under 6,500 – a 22% drop – and the number of fire control room staff, who play a vital role keeping communities safe, has suffered a 433 reduction in posts.

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: “Firefighting is no longer about just fighting fires, it is about much more. These figures reveal the immense value of the work of firefighters, and also the scale of the challenge they face with increased cuts to their numbers.

“The government is choosing to ignore its own figures, preferring instead to bury their heads in the sand. The need for firefighters in all their roles is increasing, and yet year on year we are seeing appalling cuts to the service.

“Fire and rescue services in England are expected to do more with less, putting public safety at risk. It is only down to the dedication of fire and rescue staff that the service is performing as efficiently as it is.

“Firefighters have been ensuring the service delivers, but it is at breaking point. Some of the resulting weaknesses have been highlighted by the stark reduction in vital fire safety inspections undertaken. Public safety is being put at risk.”

Read the FBU’s briefing, which covers statistics in England for fire incidents, non-fire incidents, rescues (2016-17, this year’s figures will be available in the new year), fatalities from fire incidents, firefighters headcount, response times (2016-17).

See also: Guildford Fire Station Night Coverage Reduced As Part of ‘Making Surrey Safer’ Plan

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