ITEM 9: AND SOMERSET FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE

QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS RAISED BY:

Totnes Town Council; Town Council; Parish Council; Parish Council; Parish Council; Parish Council; Kingston Parish Council; and Parish Council; Parish Council; Townstal Ward,Dartmouth; ;

Recruitment of Retained Fire Personnel:

• How problematic is it for Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service to recruit retained fire personnel?

• How many stations have crewing deficiencies on a daily/weekly basis?

• What active support has been given to encourage and support local stations to resolve their crewing deficiencies? Is there anything at parish level we can do to help with these issues?

• What is the long term policy for retained recruitment?

• With on-going and increasing cut backs, how will the service maintain morale?

• How many retained fire personnel are leaving the service?

• Is there a shortage in day cover?

• Does the Garton System show periods when a retained station is unable to remain on the run, if so what are the figures, and would these be available for scrutiny?

• There have been concerns about the levels of recruitment at Dartmouth for some time.

• The present system of moving staff to cover times of poor manning ability, at retained level appears costly, and at full time level could indicate a surplus of staff. Is this sustainable?

• Why is the process to recruit new personnel so lengthy? • Is the impact on family life of retained fire personnel fully acknowledged, and is t recognised that the undertaking of retained work is greater than that for the full-time work.

Remuneration

• What are the differences between retained salary paid staff and those using the old pay as you go system?

• Has the move to salary paid stations improved or impaired operational cover?

• What contracts are available to retained personnel and what are the remuneration scales? My understanding is the hourly reward in real terms is very poor.

Impact of use of Retained Fire Personnel on availability of Fire Appliances and Response Times:

• How do shortfalls in retained cover affect appliance availability, knowing that there have been many times when Modbury, Ivybridge and have been unavailable leaving our parishes vulnerable?

• Can you provide us with statistics where crewing levels have been at a shortfall and where failure to be able to mobilise appliances have arisen as a result?

• In areas where property prices are very high, retained fire personnel are living further away from the stations and this must inevitably increase response times. Originally, retained fire personnel had to live no further than 3 minutes away, now this has been increased to 7 minutes. Is this sustainable?

• What is the response time that a member of the public should expect the arrival of the Fire Brigade and how well is the service performing against those target response times as a percentage of call-outs overall?

• Is the expected response time the same for rural areas?

• Can assurances be given that there will be adequate cover for the , and Kingston Parish, Newton and Noss, Halwell and Moreliegh and Bigbury Parishes.

• There has been talk about new smaller appliances. Do these have less equipment and require fewer personnel, and would the use of smaller appliances cause delay in getting the appropriate resources to a more serious incident?

• Comment: When talking about serious life threatening situations, we trust that emergency services will start to respond as soon as we make a telephone call for help. We cannot be left wondering ‘how long will it take them to get here?’ We must not lose the trust and admiration we have for this service.

Area Coverage:

• We see from the local community plans for the local fire stations, a considerable amount of hours is recorded for each pump being “off the run” (unavailable) on how many occasions do these hours of non availability coincide leaving the South hams relying on or to cover the area, how will this be managed if and Plymstock become On Call fire stations.

• How are the boundary limits determined for each station to ensure the quickest response time.

• Your new proposals for the stations are leaning towards retained (on call) personnel. This suggest a reduction in immediate coverage both in the city and rural areas. Does this mean that the rural retained stations will become more critical to the service?

• Is Dartmouth considered a low risk area?

• Are there plans to remove the fire station at Dartmouth and cover this area from stations in Totnes or Kingsbridge? Residents would have serious concerns about the impact on response times, particularly during the summer months and as Dartmouth is at the ‘end of the line’. Dartmouth must retain its retained fire crew.

• We are concerned with the possible effect of proposed crewing changes within stations close to the South Hams, in Plymouth, Plympton and Plymstock, and note that a number of fire engines will be downgraded to ‘on call’ status. We look for reassurance that safety of the community, (including the maintenance of current response times), and of firefighters will not be compromised by these changes (Ivybridge Town Council)

• What current and future cover will be provided for the Bigbury parish.

• What actions will be being taken to ensure there is enough fire cover in the South Hams District. Kingston Parish would like it to be known that they have serious concerns about this matter.

Road Widths

• Newton and Noss seek assurances that only smaller appliances (which can negotiate their narrow roads) are deployed in their parish regardless from which area an appliance is deployed, and are these sorts of issues taken account of?

Increased risks in relation to Historic Heritage:

• Totnes has many interconnected, listed buildings which are often made of wood and sometimes dilapidated and this presents a particular challenge and problem in terms of the likelihood of an incident and dealing with it if there is.

• Dartmouth highlights the fire it experienced at Fairfax Place (historic building) and that without the swift response the damage could have been even more damaging.

• For both towns, their historic heritage defines their individual character and is inextricably linked with their local economies.

Flooding:

• Totnes feel that the rise in flooding incidents means that the fire service continues to be important and that early response times are key to preventing further damage to householders – this is particularly important now that insurance has become more complex in this area.

• is concerned, that given recent flooding problems in the village, that any future reduction in equipment and manpower may mean that The Fire Service will be unable to react to requests to pump out affected properties.

Traffic Accidents:

• Totnes also pointed out that the fire service attends a range of incidents, including traffic accidents, and that it is a key service to the community which they would not like to see cut.

Organisational/Operational Matters:

• What benefits would a merger with Avon Fire and Rescue Service bring to Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service.

• Regarding the proposed reduction to the number of middle/senior management, we note your statement that these result from business changes, but are concerned that any organisation, be it commercial or a public service, can be compromised if under-resourced owing to management and supervisory staff become overstretched. (Ivybridge Town Council)

• The unacceptably high rate of automated fire alarms which prove to be false must be tackled both with regard to cost and to the tying up of valuable resources (Ivybridge Town Council)

• Comment: We are aware of the proposed changes included in the current consultation in order to meet the financial constraints placed on the service as a result of the reduction in Government grants. We are also aware that the service will do its utmost to absorb those reductions without compromising the safety of either the community or the firefighters. (Ivybridge Town Council)

Fire Prevention:

• What fire prevention work is currently undertaken and how will the requirement for budget cuts impact on this work;

• Are the number of calls getting less as a result of smoke alarms and better preventative materials being used ?