5 Stories From the Fire Industry Last Week

1 Cuts to rescue services could put lives at risk

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has warned MPs that cuts to fire and rescue services could endanger lives.

A London Evening Standard report on Tuesday quoted FBU general secretary Matt Wrack voicing concerns to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee during its investigation of Sir Ken Knight’s Review of the Fire and Rescue Service.

Wrack said the cuts “will mean homes and businesses that could have been saved will be lost.” The Knight Review is the subject of a debate on IFSECGlobal.com.

2 Fire Authority votes for fifth draft of London Safety Plan

This draft version of the plan will allow the authority to save GB pound 29 million of the GB pound 45 million it needs to over the next 24 months.

The vote on LSP5 was split. Eight authority members voted for it, and eight voted against (with one abstention). Authority chairman James Cleverly broke the deadlock by casting his vote in favour of the proposal.

The plan includes closing 10 fire stations, reducing firefighter posts, and lowering the number of station and group managers to 200.

Is it really possible to scale down on such a critical service to such an extent without damaging that service in some way?

The FBU could mount a legal challenge to the decision, and it hasn’t ruled out some form of retaliatory industrial action. In a heated debate about the cuts, Boris Johnson had to apologise after telling an opponent of an plan to “get stuffed.”

3 Fire statistics issued by Scottish government

For the last time, annual statistics have been published on the eight Fire and Rescue Services in Scotland. The data covers the 12 months of transition leading up to the birth of the new, amalgamated Scottish Fire and Rescue Service on 1 April this year.

There were 80 incidents of attacks on staff. That’s 32 fewer than there were in the previous 12 months. Good news, then. Employees visited more than 56,000 homes (one of every 45 homes across the country) and carried out close to 8,000 fire safety audits.

For a wide-ranging analysis of fire safety performance across various sectors in Scotland, make sure you read this excellent article by Claire Rizos on IFSECGlobal.com.

4 Hotel fire safety examined by Inside Out

The BBC’s Inside Out programme (in tandem with fire safety specialist Alan Cox) conducted an undercover examination of 14 older-style premises. Worryingly, 11 of them failed to pass muster. Unsealed service pipes, fire doors that didn’t close properly, and flammable material in basements were just some of the issues unearthed. As far as Cox is concerned, the system (ie. inspections by the authorities) isn’t working.

Phil Martin, a spokesman for Devon and Somerset Fire Service, has denied the problem is wide ranging.

You can view the programme on BBC iPlayer until Monday 16 September.

5 Better together than apart? Leading fire journals set to merge

The Journal of Fire Protection Engineering and Fire Technology are recognised as two of the world’s leading peer-reviewed journals concentrating on applied fire safety. A merger of the publications is to be realised on 1 January next year.

The new magazine is to be called Fire Technology, and publication is scheduled on a bimonthly basis.Online access to the journal’s content will be free for all members of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers.