Essex County Fire & Rescue Service

Headquarters Kelvedon Park Rivenhall CM8 3HB Tel: 01376 576000 Fax: 01376570466 www.essex-fire.gov.uk

Options for change

These are the three options Essex County Fire and Rescue Service will be consulting on.

In all of the response model proposals shortlisted it is suggested that specialist off road vehicles, known as, Pinzgauer appliances, will be removed from the following fire stations:

• Fire Station • Fire Station • Burnham Fire Station • Fire Station (Note; a second fire engine is to be maintained at Great Dunmow)

The Service has five day crewed fire stations. Day crewed stations see firefighters on the fire station between Monday and Friday 0900hrs to 1800hrs. During the evenings and weekends these stations are on-call status. These five stations see an annual average demand of between 177 and 303 incidents per year. The Service has 13 on-call fire stations currently operating at this level of demand and higher.

In all of the fire cover proposals shortlisted it is suggested that the following fire engines are to be converted from the day crewing duty system to the on-call crewing system:

• Fire Station • Fire Station • Great Baddow Fire Station • Fire Station • Great Dunmow Fire Station

Recognising the changes set out above, the three preferred options are:

Essex County Fire & Rescue Service

Headquarters Kelvedon Park Rivenhall Witham Essex CM8 3HB Tel: 01376 576000 Fax: 01376570466 www.essex-fire.gov.uk

Proposal One

This proposal will deliver savings of £8.6m. It is predicted to meet both of the Authority’s revised response standards.

Under the proposal the Service would have 64 fire engines, 15 of which are wholetime and 49 on-call. Specifically this proposal seeks to:

Remove the second fire engine from the following fire stations: • Orsett Fire Station • Rayleigh Fire Station • Fire Station • Southend Fire Station • Grays Fire Station • Corringham Fire Station • Frinton Fire Station

Change the crewing of the second fire engine at the following fire stations from wholetime to on-call:

• Clacton Fire Station • Fire Station

These changes would see a reduction in watch-based wholetime firefighters from the current 570 to 360 and an increase in on-call firefighters from 437 to 466.

Proposal Two

This proposal is projected to deliver savings of £6.4m. It is predicted to meet both of the Authority’s response standards.

Under the proposal the Service would have 66 fire engines, 18 of which are wholetime and 48 are on- call. Specifically this proposal seeks to:

Remove the second fire engine from the following fire stations:

Essex County Fire & Rescue Service

Headquarters Kelvedon Park Rivenhall Witham Essex CM8 3HB Tel: 01376 576000 Fax: 01376570466 www.essex-fire.gov.uk

• Orsett Fire Station • Rayleigh Fire Station • Loughton Fire Station • Corringham Fire Station • Frinton Fire Station Change the crewing of the second fire engine at the following fire station from wholetime to on-call: • Clacton Fire Station

These changes would see a reduction in watch-based wholetime firefighters from the current 570 to 432 and an increase in on-call firefighters from 437 to 456.

Proposal Three

This proposal is projected to deliver savings of £10m. The initial modelling suggests that this proposal will meet the second of the Authority’s revised response standards but fails to meet the first by 0.2%.

Further modelling, using elevated on-call availability figures, suggests that this proposal would meet the first of the Authority’s revised response standards with an availability figure of 98%. Under the proposal the Service would have 64 fire engines, 14 of which are wholetime and 50 are on-call.

Specifically this proposal seeks to:

Remove the second fire engine from the following fire stations: • Orsett Fire Station • Rayleigh Fire Station • Loughton Fire Station • Southend Fire Station • Grays Fire Station • Clacton Fire Station • Harlow Fire Station

Change the crewing at the following fire station from wholetime to on-call:

Essex County Fire & Rescue Service

Headquarters Kelvedon Park Rivenhall Witham Essex CM8 3HB Tel: 01376 576000 Fax: 01376570466 www.essex-fire.gov.uk

• Brentwood Fire Station

These changes would see a reduction in watch-based wholetime firefighters from the current 570 to 336 and an increase in on-call firefighters from 437 to 467.

The consultation will launch at the start of February and will offer people many ways to feedback including online, on the phone or through the post. It will run for 12 weeks.