Dear Ed and Councillors .............

Dear  Mr Balls ,

We understand that  you are meeting with the Chief Fire Officer Simon Pilling to discuss the proposals  that Morley Fire Station is "day crewed"  from January 2014.

So FCCL as concerned individuals would just like to share the following information with you all of which we believe will demonstrate that WYFRS senior management are not using sound management techniques but lurching from pillar to post in the management of WYFRS.


LETS START WITH A WORD MENTIONED 23 times in the 2012/13 IRMP

re·sil·ience

  [ri-zil-yuhns, -zil-ee-uhns]

noun

1.

the power or ability to return to the original form, position, etc., after being bent, compressed, overstretched; elasticity.

2.

ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like; buoyancy.

On Thursday 18th of July WYFRS 

 were so overstretched  their 

resilience plans were invoked. 

WYFRS required FIVE RESILIENCE PUMPS 

TO BE OPERATIONAL 

Recall to duty is purely voluntary. They send everyone available a text message saying that if they want the overtime  they are then to get to a certain destination within an hour ready to go. (remember too every appliance MUST HAVE a qualified driver and crew manager) 

All 5 resilience pumps were mobilised, although none where mobilised within the allocated 1 hour

First resilience pump mobilised within 1 and half hours       the fifth one took 3 hours!!

Some pumps also were running 

with just 4 crew !

So Mr Balls we at FCCL think that closing fire stations and removing crews  is wrong, if it takes THREE  HOURS to staff resilience engines that WYFRS rely heavily on in their documentation. Its all talk ....... 

AND HERE ARE A FEW MORE INACCURACIES THEY HAVE WRITTEN .........

.........Further proposals will be presented to WYFRA in future years, however it is not anticipated that these will involve any further new builds prior to 2016.   

(SO WHY DID HE DECIDE TO CLOSE 3 MORE STATIONS    (including Morley) and build 2 new ones  a year later? 


And about Moortown in the 2012 /13 IRMP 

...........WYFRS’ commitment to providing an excellent and efficient service has informed the proposal to introduce an innovative way of providing an emergency response service within the area of Moortown and Leeds District. Instead of continuing to provide two front line fire appliances WYFRS will replace one of them with a Fire Response Unit which will be capable of providing a faster response to smaller incidents across Leeds District. This will maximise the availability of front line fire appliances for life and property incidents.

YET IN JUST ONE YEAR  MOORTOWN GOES FROM BEING A KEY "HUB"  TO CLOSED. 

(we have firm opinions of FRU's read them  here) 

ROTHWELL Fire Station  ---- April 2012 

 “It is unnecessary to stress the operational advantages and the need for speed in responding to emergency calls as in many situations even seconds count when lives and property are in danger. The current proposals for Rothwell are operationally more desirable as it contains all the activities associated with the fire station within the site, and ensures that staff are located as close as possible to the station to ensure fast response times.”


Yet in September  2012 it seems Rothwell was to close ( we blogged about the proposed close call plans in October 2012) And then they suddenly decided it could be day crewed!


And what about Day Crewing? 

Day Crewing

Day Crewing is a duty system contained within firefighters' national 

terms and conditions, however, any move on to this system is 

voluntary, as it requires staff to live within  5 minutes of the station.  

Firefighters are suitably recompensed with an on-call allowance, 

turnout fees and rent/fuel allowance.  In theory, there are sufficient staff  living within the 5 minute zone at all stations proposed to change to the Day Crewing system but further work is required to establish interest in working this duty system.

We are told time and time again that crews are not willing to day crew and we understand that volunteers are not queueing to sign on the dotted line. So what WYFRS say in theory cannot be transferred to practice. We wrote about it here 

So Ed we wish you luck in your dealing with CFO Pilling -  and whatever you do take detailed notes as you will  no doubt need them to remind Simon of what he has said. Because if we the community don't win this fight we think at some point our words written way back in September 2012 will come back to haunt him. 

Kindest Regards
FireCutsCostLives 

Simple Simon* met a fireman looking at a fire

Said simple Simon* to the fire man, “those flames are getting higher”

Said the fire man to simple Simon*  “we haven’t got a hope

Those IRMP plans you passed are really not a joke”

 Said simple Simon*to the fireman –“ I don’t know what you mean

These cuts in staff and engines, it will make us slick and lean!”

Said the fire man to simple Simon* – “oh no you’ve got it wrong

With increased tavel time and less staff too –  soon it will go all wrong”

This fire will spread,   we have no staff to help us  put it out

These cuts you love will kill a child,  the politicians shout

“It wasn’t us it, was that man – he told us what to do

And Simon* got it wrong it seems  – and now what shall we do?”

If Simon* wasn’t simple but a decent man with faith

We  wouldn’t have to write this poem  (And our homes would  all be safe!)

Arson About !!!!

Oh dear, I  have been accused of slacking - by probably the one person who is allowed to tell me off without getting his head ripped off shortly after. So  grovelling apology to Dave from the FBU - i shall get back to my keyboard at once.

I do have a very good excuse though, i have moved house (from very high risk to low risk  area) and now live less than 200 yds from a fire station in West Yorkshire; so if there is to be afirefighters  strike at some point soon at least one FBU picket line will be getting regular deliveries of hot drinks and food. On the understanding i expect the best response times EVER if the house has a fire!!! Well till it's closed, sniff !


Anyway  - way back in March we talked about MORLEY , well that post lead to us doing some more research and we have discovered that Morley like many stations is not having incidents that they attend reported in the WYFRS public incident logs.

Lets demonstrate this with three recent incidents....all house fires 
(house fires =  those things that management would have you believe are going down ↑ )

20th April 2013  there were two house fires. .......both arson.

One at Askey Avenue LS27 0EG which is a HIGH RISK area  . This incident was a reported arson attack, fire fighters in breathing apparatus attended the fire in the kitchen and although the fire was contained the house was badly smoked damaged.

The same day in Wide Lane, Morley LS27 8BU yet again a HIGH RISK area an outhouse was ignited and the fire spread to the dwelling . This was definitely an arson attack as it was confirmed by the householder it was their  estranged spouse that was involved (the house has already been subject to arson intervention by WYFRS) and we suspect the spouse is even more estranged now!

9th April 2013,  there was yet another house fire  in Springbank Crescent,LS27 7DN which is deemed to be LOW RISK . It was a household appliance that ignited. (we have discussed these too recently , please click here to read the article )  It was a family with young children and potentially was a disaster in the making.

 .
                                                                          

So three house  fires.................. two arson and one in a low risk area !

We can't help wondering why WYFRS are keeping Morley Fire Stations incidents under wraps .............could it be because in January 2014 WYFRS intend to turn Morley to DAY CREWING!!!!

FCCL are not advocates of day  crewing - for many reasons. The main two being 

1. we can add up 

2.  we can also interpret data  from oracle correctly.

we could add a third  

TO ENABLE DAY CREWING TO WORK 

YOU NEED YOUR CREWS TO LIVE WITHIN A 

5 MINUTE RESPONSE RADIUS TO THE STATION.

SO ........ how many firefighters currently at Morley fulfill the criteria above  (we will give you a bit of help,
 there are currently 27 staff at Morley) 

Can WYFRS even start to contemplate shifting staff around to enable them to have a full compliment of staff living within 5 mins by 2014. Surely they will have done their home work,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 

NOPE it seems not. Mind you neither have the labour councillors who sit on the LABOUR CONTROLLED Fire Authority. 

Ed Balls MP

A few weeks ago Ed Balls visited Morley Fire Station along with several of the local labour councillors.  CFO Pilling sent a couple of his senior staff along to ensure that the  CREWS DID NOT TALK ABOUT THE PROPOSED CHANGES IN STAFFING. Simons henchmen failed miserably as Ed kicked off the conversation by talking about the IRMP and proposed changes at Morley. Apparently CFO Pillings henchmen got rather uncomfortable as when it was said that the fire authority had approved  the proposed system of day  crewing one of the councillors said "Oh No it wasnt !"  Apparently what had been discussed was  closing Morley and Hunslet and the construction of a two pump"superstation" at a site indentified near the White Rose Centre OR removing a pump at Hunslet and having  two one pump stations. Day crewing was NOT DISCUSSED. 

Sadly we also hear that intimidation  and  a culture of top down bullying is rife at WYFRS, something we have heard time and time again but we sincerely hope that  crews and members of the Fire Brigades Union have the courage of their (correct) convictions and continue to fight these ridiculous proposals of day crewing. 

Is Simon Pilling  seriously so blind and arrogant to think he can pull the wool over the eyes of the community of Morley?  

As we said way back in December, the FBU, FCCL and the local community of West Yorkshire have driven a wedge of transparency   into the strangle hold  he seemed to have over the fire authority in previous years. We commend the crews and community at Morley and will do anything we can to assist them in their fight to keep Morley fully staffed and  24 hour operational. 

Who in their right mind would want to add FIVE MINUTES TO RESPONSE  TIMES  ?   It's time to remind a certain CFO that he is the monkey NOT the organ grinder at WYFRS - he serves the community NOT the other way round. 

We are sure the campaign to keep Morley  24 hour crewed will be featuring again in this blog ................... watch this space. 

And finally, tomorrows post will be  around the subject of  a tape measure, 4 inches and a shiny new fire engine !  ( we swear you couldn't make it up ) 

Low Risk, High Price

In a matter of minutes

 KILLS

 and can 

turn you into one of these  

or  (if one of the FCCL team was involved )one of  these   really quickly................ 

Don't you think he has a look of BossHooch about him? 

But,  both of the above can  be prevented  by a teensy weensy addition to the family home of one or two of these

Sadly we have to report that a lady in Kippax died a few days ago  - she didn't have a smoke alarm.  

The incident postcode was LS25 7JE designated  by WYFRS own risk registers  a VERY LOW RISK area . 

Now the other thing to notice about this particular fire is the the time of the call to WYFRS 

5.16 PM

A time when people are about in the street, the nights are light and you would expect a fire to be  noticed fairly early on (the smokes a bit of a give away) 

This lady was rescued by crews from 

Castleford,   Rothwell   and   Garforth 

(3 engines for a persons reported housefire  remember) 

But sadly she  was pronounced dead at hospital  - we offer our sincere condolences to her family 

A report by the BBC can be found here and it seems the fire was caused by a discarded cigarette and also the property had no working smoke alarm.  Yet again this incident did not feature on the WYFRS incident log. 

Now the lady concerned WAS RESCUED ALIVE , BUT had this incident occured in January 2014 the scenario may have been different. From  then  Rothwell & Garforth will convert to the system of DAY CREWING.  This is when a station is staffed from 7am till 5pm, then the firefighters are at home ON CALL. 

So if they get a "shout" they have to leave home and get to the fire station - this takes 

5 minutes 

SO if this particular fire in a very low risk area had happened 10 months hence,  

2 of the three engines would have turned up 

5 minutes later than they did earlier this week. 

Yes we are happy that  Garforth and Rothwell were not closed completely - but what the fire authority Councillors failed to realise is that  day crewing actually significantly reduces cover and gives a much worse service  at arguably  the times (evenings) when cover is most needed. 

We wrote about the technical side of day crewing here in our post 

"So Whats New ? "-

it's an interesting read. 

Now,  we can excuse Councillors being 

un - knowledgeable about the  technical details 

of fire and rescue 

BUT 

these proposals were made by a chappie who is supposed to know what he is doing!!!!!

We have doubted his technical abilities before 

HERE                     

So What's New

So Whats New?

Well the Consultation Period is over (or is it?) . Following massive rejection of the proposals, WYF&RS have now watered down their plans  They can be found here->.  

A report of the consultation can also be found amongst the agenda of the meeting due to take place on Friday.( It can be found here)  from Page 91 onwards - but we have copied the relevant pieces:-

SUMMARY OF FORMAL REPRESENTATIONS

4.1 The Authority received  seven letters/emails 

(NOTE -Only SEVEN! -editor) 

of support or indications of no objection to the proposals.  These were from West Yorkshire Resilience Forum, Leeds City Council Safer and Stronger Scrutiny Committee, Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, (What about South Yorkshire Fire Service?-Editor) Kirklees Council and two residents from Marsden and Morley. (Must be officers? ed')

4.2 12,037 letters/emails of objection/concern from individuals, groups or organisations were received - 1,309 being unspecific in nature.  
Across the county 

45% of these relate to proposals in the Leeds district, 
22% within the Bradford district, 
13% in Wakefield district, 
9% in the Kirklees district 
and less than 

1% in the Calderdale district. 
This contrasts to a total 2,999 items of formal representation received following public consultation during September – December 2011 regarding seven proposals to change emergency cover in West Yorkshire.

Wow what an increase! We at FCCL wonder why?

4.3 There was a volume of correspondence that opposed changes in the districts of Bradford and Leeds.  258 letters/emails of objection/concern related to changes proposed across the  Bradford District and  14 letters/emails were received relating to  changes across the Leeds District. The issues of concern are captured under the relevant proposals below. 

4.4 Activity/responses relating directly to the eleven proposals was as follows (all figures  excluding responses by the Fire Brigades Union  and Fire Officers’ Association which are outlined at sections 4.15.1 and 4.15.2 below).

OUR FCCL RESPONSE IS OBVIOUSLY NOT WORTHY OF AN INDIVIDUAL MENTION!

It doesn't say, however, how many hits their web site had! 

We suspect the reason is, is because this site had many more! 

How many did FCCL Have? See here!

We do still have concerns about the way stakeholders were consulted! (See below). 

ONLY 100!

3 CONSULTATION ACTIVITY

3.1 Approximately 100 stakeholders were identified for direct contact,  including Members of Parliament; district, town and parish councils; neighbouring fire authorities and emergency services; local representative bodies; external employer and employee organisations and voluntary bodies. Representations 

were invited by 30 November 2012.

OK As we at FCCL Have already said, 100, in a county the size of West Yorkshire, IS NOT VERY MANY! and only an increase in 20 on last years!

 Click here to see  What we feel consultation with Stakeholders should be all about!

In the article found here , it comments that- 

"THOUSANDS of residents in more than 100 council wards across West Yorkshire will lose out on emergency response times if radical fire service cutbacks are carried out."

 100 council Wards would equal 300 councillors!

3.2 In recognition of the fact that it was not possible to communicate individually with 

all those who may wish to submit observations, the proposals were  also 

publicised via the internet and intranet, the print (See the links here, here and here and broadcast media. 
This year a consultation email account was provided and published to improve ease of 

communication for the public.  In addition, a consultation email account and 

hotline  was established in the  Public Information Office  for people seeking 

further information and assistance on the consultation process and timetable.

HOWEVER WE AT FCCL STILL HAVE CONCERNS

The new proposal now suggest that apart from the removal of appliances from some stations, Garforth, Rothwell and Morley, 

             are down graded to Day Crewing!

The

NATIONAL JOINT COUNCIL

FOR LOCAL AUTHORITY

FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICES

Scheme of Conditions of Service

Sixth Edition 2004 (updated 2009) -

Describes Day Crewing as-

7.5 Day Crewing

Day Crewing is a duty system contained within firefighters' national 

terms and conditions, however, any move on to this system is 

voluntary, as it requires staff to live within  5 minutes of the station.  

Firefighters are suitably recompensed with an on-call allowance, 

turnout fees and rent/fuel allowance.  In theory, there are sufficient staff 

living within the 5 minute zone at all stations proposed to change to the 

Day Crewing system but further work is required to establish interest in 

working this duty system.

What this means is that, apart from all the additional costs and implementation problems, (as above) which they haven't mentioned!

On an evening, 

In MORLEY 

There will be a delay of 5 Minutes before an appliance can attend if there is an incident! 

WYF&RS Say- The response in the evening and at nights from 
Morley would be delayed by up to five minutes compared to its current performance due to firefighters responding from home and therefore, in some cases, the wholetime shift  Hunslet fire engine would respond faster into Morley’s area.

This is actually worse than the original proposals!-

Councillor Robert Finnigan (Morley Independants) has already e mailed us and shown his support!

And NOTHING is mentioned about the time increase in the revised proposals for!

GARFORTH and ROTHWELL

Back in 2004 WYF&RS tried to downgrade Garforth to Day Crewing (see link here) (and here)
This is what happened then!
Article can be found here!

Victory for Public Opinion!

We at FCCL feel that these new proposals are once again subject to further public consultation and urge every one concerned to immediately contact their  

Local Councillor 

to demand that this now takes place,

BEFORE NEXT FRIDAY'S AUTHORITY MEETING

YOU CAN FIND THE LINK TO CONTACT THEM

Here
or
MP'S
Ed Balls - Morley

George Mudie - East Leeds

Alec Shelbrooke-Elmet and Rothwell