The Fire Brigades Union has renewed calls for an increase in the number of firefighters in Fife after its first meeting with the chairman of a council committee set up to scrutinise the fire service.
The union has long campaigned for more firefighters in the region, claiming that a reduction in numbers from 392 to 348 posts has compromised safety.
That view was supported by Audit Scotland in February when the public spending watchdog released a report which said it would be difficult to maintain standard crewing levels for all emergency responses in Fife after the council’s finance committee opted to slash the Fife Fire and Rescue budget by 4-4.5% in each of the following three years.
The report said the decision had ”the potential for some increase in community risks”, prompting the previous administration to release funds to allow Fife Fire and Rescue to take on a further 12 firefighters.
Representatives from the FBU held talks with fire and rescue transition committee chairman Councillor Neil Crooks and senior managers at the service’s Thornton headquarters on Tuesday.
FBU Fife branch secretary Scott McCabe said: ”Our message hasn’t changed. We have 358 personnel in Fife 10 short of the minimum safety standards which allows us to have five firefighters on one appliance and four on the other at any one time.
”We’re looking forward to working with the new committee to address this issue.”
Before the local elections in May, which led to a Labour administration replacing the SNP and Lib Dem coalition, former fire officer Neil Crooks called on the council to reverse budget decisions which saw the number of firefighters in Fife fall.
Speaking exclusively to The Courier after meeting the FBU, he said: ”The proposed budget by the former administration would have led to further reductions, but thanks to the challenges made by myself and others the anticipated frontline staffing efficiencies were halved, allowing £300,000 to be used this year to recruit additional firefighters.
”For the first time in three years we now have trainee firefighters from Fife Fire and Rescue Service attending the Scottish Fire Service College in Gullane.
”In addition, following a transfer and recruitment campaign, several fully trained firefighters from other fire services have been transferred into Fife rather than out, and there is scope for more trainees to begin at Gullane in November 2012.
”Even with that investment, staffing levels will remain well below the 2010 level and obviously that is something which the chief fire officer will be discussing with us as we get down to business.”
Fife FBU chairman Graeme Birtley welcomed the early meeting with Mr Crooks, saying: ”Under the previous administration the number of firefighters in Fife fell so, for our members, the new committee is a good thing because it will ensure that the fire service gets the level of scrutiny it requires, particularly in the run-up to a single service.”
Councillor George Kay, who chaired the previous administration’s police, fire and safety committee, said: ”Any deployment of staff has been in conjunction with the chief fire officer and we took his advice at every turn. If the chief fire officer feels at any time that he requires further personnel he doesn’t have to come back to committee there is a contingency fund in place.”