Fewer firefighters for Lancaster, but more for Morecambe under service shake-up

Numbers at the Cable Street facility will drop from 28 to 24 as part of a plan that will see an increase of eight firefighters overall across Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS).

That wider boost will be keenly felt in Morecambe, one of three fire stations where the crew tally will leap from 14 to 24 as it moves to become a so-called “wholetime” operation.

The Lancashire combined fire authority agreed the oberhaul at a meeting just before Christmas. However, the impact of the suite of changes has sparked a war of words between the service and the Fire Brigades Union (FBU).

Lanacster will remain a full-time facility, but is proposed to move to a new “flexible” duty system under which firefighters will be able to self-roster their shifts in consultation with managers, so as to give them maximum control over their working patterns.

That element of the change is still subject to agreement with the unions, but the reduction in numbers will be implemented irrespective of whether the flexibility is ultimately introduced.

LFRS says that there is currently an “over establishment” of staff at Lancaster in order to ensure that there are enough suitably qualified firefighters to fill vacancies as people retire. The cut in numbers will affect the temporary staff who form that buffer.

Meanwhile, Morecambe fire station will move from what is known as a day crewing plus (DCP) system to the same wholetime operation as Lancaster – with the intention for it, too, to be the flexible version of that arrangement.

Firefighters at DCP facilities receive a 32 percent additional allowance - equating to an average of almost £11,000 - to compensate them for the fact that their shifts involve remaining on “close standby”, having worked throughout the day. When on duty, they are present at the station during daytimes and then remain on-call throughout the evening and overnight, staying in purpose-built accommodation on the site.

That pensionable extra payment will be lost for personnel at stations like Morecambe, which become staffed on a wholetime rota.

There are an average of 700 incidents per year in the area served by the Westgate facility and parts of the patch are deemed very high risk, meaning that the Lancashire service’s own target response time to calls is just six minutes. Lancaster’s risk profile is high in some areas – necessitating an eight-minute response.

The emergency cover review – which was the subject of a three-month staff and public consultation earlier this year - will result in slight reductions in crewing levels at 13 stations across Lancashire, but no change to the total 58 fire engines and 39 stations operating in the county. The fire service says that its own “robust” response standards will continue to be met.

The day crewing plus system was first introduced in Lancashire in 2010 as a way of maintaining emergency cover levels while making major financial savings as austerity started to bite into public sector budgets. It required fewer personnel to deliver the same level of round-the-clock response - with a DCP-crewed fire engine costing around £880,000 a year to run, compared to £1.34m for one operated on a wholetime basis.

Firefighters had to volunteer to opt-out of European Union-devised rules governing the maximum number of hours they could work in a week if they wanted to move to a DCP shift pattern.

The FBU does not support the system, although the Lancashire fire service says that it came to an agreement with local union officials over the issue 12 years ago - a claim which the FBU denies.

The brigade says that DCP crewing can reduce the capacity for fire prevention work in the community because of the need to provide firefighters with “recovery time” the day after being called out to any overnight incidents, so as to reduce fatigue.

In a statement issued after the fire authority approved the emergency cover proposals, deputy chief fire officer Steve Healey said: “We have reviewed the locations, numbers and types of fire stations and fire appliances against community risks and incident levels across the county - and the proposals reflect the most effective and efficient ways to provide emergency cover for the whole of Lancashire.

“We are maintaining all 39 fire stations and 58 fire appliances across the county, meeting our response standards, and creating additional firefighter jobs. We are also strengthening the service’s capabilities in relation to climate change emergencies, and high-rise and commercial building fires.

“Changes to crewing arrangements at some stations are necessary where the shift system is not supported by the Fire Brigades Union. However, we have worked with our staff to find an alternative that offers greater resilience and flexibility,” Mr Healey added.

UNION TURNS UP THE HEAT ON FIRE CHIEFS

The Lancashire brigade insists that the station crewing changes to be implemented as part of its emergency cover review will have just a 0.1 percent impact on its county-wide response performance.

However, that figure was disputed by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) in a letter sent to the combined fire authority the evening before the crunch meeting at which members approved the raft of proposals.

The review had originally suggested adding 25 firefighters to the Lancashire rollcall, requiring an extra £215,000 of investment. But in the context of what the LFRS described as a “shifting financial position”, it revised its plans so that they now generate savings of around £400,000.

Nevertheless, the fire service says that the new arrangements “are not a cost-cutting exercise” and are designed to ensure “an effective and efficient response to fires and other emergencies at all times”.

But in the FBU letter, seen by the Guardian, the union says that it does not “recognise nor concur” with the assumption of a 0.1 percent impact as a result of the overall package of measures.

LFRS says that the changes to its staffing establishments are “in line” with those adopted by many other brigades nationwide.

But the FBU’s letter declared that there was “no definition of resilience or flexibility [that] these proposals comply with” - and also warned of the negative impact of having six firefighters per watch at some four-watch stations like Lancaster - and the potential to have to use overtime to cover staffing shortfalls as a result of leave or sickness.

However, deputy chief fire officer Steve Healey told the fire authority that he found the last-minute correspondence “disappointing” and claimed that it contained “a number of inaccuracies” - most notably, he said, the assertion that the emergency cover review involved “job losses”.

“I’m at a loss as to where that has come from,” Mr. Healey said, contending that it was “quite an achievement” to increase the firefighter staffing establishment within the changes that the fire authority was being asked to approve.

He added that while the FBU contested the 0.1 percent impact of the proposals, they had not “[come] up with any alternative view on what they feel that the changes look like”.

“Our data has been externally analysed by a third party company that looked at tens of thousands of incidents over years of data and the fact remains that the proposals…do not have a significant impact on emergency cover at all,” Mr. Healey said.

Fire authority chair - Conservative county councillor David O’Toole - said that people would “make their own conclusions about the [FBU’s] letter”, but described the emergency cover review as “extremely thorough” - and the best he had seen during his time on the authority.

Labour fire authority member County Cllr Nikki Hennessy said that it would have been preferable to receive the letter “a couple of weeks ago”.

She added that fellow Labour members would have been unable to vote “for any loss of fire station[s] or appliances or job losses”, but that it was up to the service itself to decide on duty systems and how to make them work.

The authority was warned that it may be necessary to revisit some of the proposals depending on the final funding settlement for the service which was received in the days after the fire authority meeting.

The fire service says that the prurpose of its review is to “ensure LFRS is not only placing its resources according to the risk in Lancashire, alongside demand, but also ensure that the disposition of LFRS resources offer value for money, achievable within an allocated budget”.It adds: “There will be financial implications involved in the purchase of some of the specialist assets detailed within the [review], although this will mainly be funded through the existing capital investment plan some capital funds will need to be brought forward. There will also likely becosts associated with upskilling the workforce which will incur additional costs.

"Costs are likely to be incurred as a result of the movement/displacement of staff following implementation of the proposals. There may be property costs associated with some of the proposed changes and costs have been incurred through the appointment of independentthird-party organisations that have supported the data analysis and consultation.”

WHAT ELSE IS PLANNED?

In addition to the changes to shift arrangements, the combined fire authority approved proposals to:

***strengthen the fire service’s response to climate change emergencies by replacing four of its current fire appliances with new vehicles complete with off-road capabilities for use in areas at risk of wildfires and flooding - and also by introducing specialist flood water incident managers;

***broaden the capability of the 400 on-call firefighters in the county - who crew 32 of Lancashire’s 58 appliances - including via a pilot to expand the skills of on-call staff at Hyndburn and Morecambe in aerial ladder platform driving;

***optimise emergency cover through the use of new “dynamic cover software” to inform decision-making based on “current levels of risk, demand and staffing profiles”.

The fire service in Lancashire has also previously moved to strengthen its firefighting and rescue capabilities at high-rise and commercial buildings by buying a new 45-metre aerial ladder platform and two additional water tower appliances.

THE MINUTES THAT MATTER

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service sets response standards for small geographical areas across the county - containing between 1,000 and 3,000 people - based on the probability of an incident occurring in those locations and the consequences if it does.

These determine the maximum time it should take from the call reporting an incident to the arrival of the first appliance at the scene:

Low risk - 12 minutes

Medium risk - 10 minutes

High risk - 8 minutes

Very high risk - 6 minutes

Non-fire in incidents where there is a risk to life (such as road accidents and water rescues) - 13 minutes

The vast majority of Lancashire is deemed to be of low risk and overall fire risk in the county has reduced by 23 percent in the last 15 years.

Source: Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service

LANCASHIRE FIRE STATION STAFFING SYSTEMS

Wholetime 2/2/4

Firefighters work a standard 42-hour week on a rota system of two 10-hour day shifts followed by two 14-hour night shifts. Staff are divided into four watches and provide 24-hour cover from the station. A “flexible” version of this system is due to be introduced at some stations, which will allow staff to self-roster their shifts on agreement with managers.

Flexible Day Crewing

Stations are staffed by wholetime firefighters who provide cover from the station itself during the day and respond from their home address - within five minutes of the station - outside of those hours.

Day Crewing Plus

Cover is provided by wholetime firefighters from the fire station during daytime hours and from purpose-built accommodation on the station grounds during the evening and overnight.

On-call

On-call firefighters respond to emergencies in their communities from their home or workplace. They provide a pre-determined level of cover each week. Some fire stations have a combination of wholetime and on-call crewing arrangements and some wholetime firefighters also provide on-call cover outside of their normal working hours.

Source: Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service