London Fire Closures Under Consultation

The closure of 12 fire stations went under public consultation this week as London Fire Brigade looks to save almost GB pound 30 million (US$45 million).

Under the fifth draft of the London Safety Plan (LSP5) around 520 firefighter jobs will go, and there will be a net reduction in fire engines of 18.

London Fire Brigade Commissioner Roy Dobson believes that this reduction can be achieved without any compulsory redundancies. He said:

Compared to ten years ago, the Brigade attends half as many fires, a third fewer house fires and almost a third fewer incidents overall. But there is always more to be done. In the future, the resources available to the Brigade will reduce and the number of people who can work for the Brigade and provide our services will also reduce. We have passed the point where we can make the necessary level of savings without any impact on our fire stations.

The cuts will see a reallocation of various resources, with four fire stations actually gaining an additional fire engine.

However, as well as the 12 earmarked for closure, there will be seven fire stations that will each be downsized from two appliances to just one.

The plan has drawn much criticism and has been held up by infighting within the London Assembly. LSP5 was originally scheduled to be under public consultation by February 13, but an extraordinary meeting of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) supported a resolution to stop the consultation just two days before this.

The Mayor of London was forced to seek “legal redress” to force his direction that the plan should go to consultation, which was eventually authorised.

James Cleverly, who is chair of the LFEPA, said that the proposals will ensure that more London boroughs “will fall within the six-minute average attendance time target for the first fire engine to arrive at an emergency.”_

He added:

The Commissioner’s plan is based on the best possible information and his decades of experience as a firefighter spent keeping Londoners safe. I am pleased to be able to give it my full support.

FIA Conference to hear from FBU

In the face of this spectre, former London firefighter and current assistant general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union has been announced to speak at the upcoming Fire Industry Association Conference.

Andy Dark will be presenting a speech on March 14th titled “The Fire & Rescue Service – What Future?”

This will be in response to the ongoing pressure on fire service budgets, which has seen Cleveland Fire and Rescue Service moving to form an employee-led mutual, something critics are calling privatisation by the back door, as well as the latest cuts from the London Authority.

Andy Dark’s colleague in the DBU, regional secretary for London Paul Embery, reignited the rhetoric he first deployed last year, comparing the threat facing London Fire Brigade to the threat of the blitz:

The starting gun has been fired, and we want Londoners to join with us in defending their fire service. These cuts are reckless and wrong.

These cuts represent the biggest threat to the ability of the London Fire Brigade to function since the days of the Blitz. It is incumbent on all of us to do what we can to fight them.