Big fire brigade cuts announcedVans could be sent to 999 calls before enginesFire chiefs are considering replacing some fire engines in North Yorkshire with 'tactical response vehicles', crewed by only two or three firefighters. The number of fire engines available to respond to incidents within five minutes of a call-out may also be cut from 46 to 27. The changes are part of a package of proposals announced by North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service, following an extended review of fire cover.
Some other brigades already use tactical response vehicles. The van above is one of those used by Durham and Darlington Fire Brigade but a North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue spokesperson said: “At this stage we are not proposing a specific vehicle but will be consulting with our staff over a range of vehicles that may be suitable.”
The other proposals include the introduction of 12 hour shifts for firefighters, the introduction of fire engines with a standard mix of whole-time firefighters and retained part-timers, the extension of the use of volunteers and the introduction of district watch managers on-call.
The service says in a report that it is proposing the tactical response vehicles because an analysis had shown that standard fire engines crewed by four or five firefighters were not always needed.
The proposed tactical response vehicles, which would carry modern firefighting equipment and technology, would respond on their own to small incidents, such as bin fires, and also attend larger incidents with fire engines.
"It would be able to provide a first attendance at some incidents, and the crew would be able to assess the situation and take initial actions to stop a fire spreading or to provide first aid," said the report.
It said the service currently had 46 standard fire engines which it aimed to have available to respond to incidents within five minutes, but in practice a number of engines were unavailable most days due to retained firefighters not being available to crew them, and not all fire engines were needed immediately anyway.
"This means there is an opportunity to change the number of standard fire engines required to be available within five minutes.
“It proposes a reduction in the number from 46 to a minimum of 27, with a minimum of 13 available within 15 minutes when the pump would otherwise be unavailable."
It said the changes would make fire engines currently unavailable become available, as retained firefighters whose full time employment may have taken them further away from their fire station could respond to incidents if they had a longer period of time to do so.
Bron: http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/11719818.Big_fire_brigade_cuts_announced___Vans_could_be_sent_to_999_calls_before_engines/?ref=twtrec
