Memorandum by Cornwall County Fire Brigade
(FRS 13)
Cornwall County Council (CCC) is the fire and
rescue authority responsible for the provision of fire and rescue
services to the County of Cornwall. This responsibility is discharged
through Cornwall County Fire Brigade. I am writing in my capacity
as the Chief Fire Officer.
REGIONAL FIRE
CONTROL
The position of CCC regarding the establishment
of a Regional Fire Control for the South West was made known to
the ODPM on 24 January 2005. The concerns expressed are as follows.
CCC does not support the Outline Business Case
and has specific concerns in respect of:
(a) The dependence which the project places
on untried and untested technology.
(b) The apparent dismissal by the ODPM, of
the importance of the role Fire Control staff play in assisting,
managing and resolving incidents where their local knowledge is
a key influence.
(c) The unclear arrangements in respect of
project initiation and on-going funding responsibilities and the
absence of detail provided in the Outline Business Case.
(d) The disregard of Cornwall's and other
authorities' Best Value Review outcomes in respect of current
Fire Control rooms, particularly in terms of function, value for
money and operational efficiency.
CCC asked that the ODPM thoroughly review the
non-core functions of existing Control Rooms and make proper arrangements
for operational and financial sustainability of those functions
post Regional Fire Control Rooms.
The position of my Authority has not changed.
FIRELINK
I support the implementation of Firelink but
I am concerned about the lack of financial information. If we
are to plan ahead, we need to know the cost that will fall to
the Authority, both for implementation and ongoing maintenance.
PROGRESS ON
FIRE AND
RESCUE SERVICE
REFORM
Cornwall County Fire Brigade is a small organisation,
with just 203 whole time personnel and with just 144 of these
personnel attached to fire stations to provide community safety
activity and front line operational response. The Brigade also
has an establishment of 425 retained personnel, an establishment
which it struggles to maintain, the actual numbers being around
400. There are two whole time shift stations and five whole time
day crewed stations, the whole time personnel on both the shift
and day crewed stations are backed up by retained personnel. The
remaining 24 stations are fully retained.
Each whole-time watch is established to turn
out one fire appliance only. Remaining appliances will respond
with retained crews. None of the "special" appliances
(Aerial Ladder Platforms, Rescue Tenders etc) have dedicated crews.
It is not unusual for appliances to respond with crews made up
of both retained and whole-time personnel.
Community Fire Safety is well developed. Station
based personnel are engaged on home fire safety checks, fitting
smoke alarms where required. This activity is targeted through
the use of FSEC computer profiling. The Brigade also recognises
its wider community safety role and runs the "dying to drive"
programme for young drivers and an arson reduction programme known
as "prison—me? No way".
There is a project ongoing within the area of
Hayle, where two firefighters are engaged full time, giving householders
safety advice and fitting smoke detectors. The scheme was put
in place as an alternative to the provision of a retained fire
station as it was felt that this would do more to reduce the risk
to residents within the area.
The Brigade is renowned for its work with young
people who have offended or who are at risk of offending, running
week long courses known as "Phoenix". The Phoenix Team
also run courses for young parents and is involved in a number
of other youth schemes.
I consider that Cornwall County Fire Brigade
is providing a first class "modern" service and whilst
I would like to do more, I consider that there is little room
for further development within existing resources. We run with
a small "back office" and are blessed with a flexible,
willing workforce but there is only so much we can do.
The Brigade had capacity shortcomings identified
in the recent CPA report, these capacity problems will undoubtedly
be compounded as we go into the next financial year. Unlike larger
brigades who are able to liberate resources from front line operations,
lack of resource is the real issue for rural fire and rescue services
such as ours and is an issue that must be addressed.
M Littmoden
Chief Fire Officer
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