If you back a dog into a corner it is going to FIGHT !

Or alternatively  ............

Oh to be a fly on the wall Monday in Morley. 

We have used this particular saying before here  

OMG !!! You will never guess what I have just heard

"Will he charm them with his fancy uniform, shiny buttons and pips on his shoulder. Or will they stand up for the rights of every citizen to have a decent  fire and rescue service."

FCCL said that way back in October 2012 when CFO Simon Pilling was called to a meeting of Morley Town Council that was held behind closed doors. And seems he did charm them and spin them a tale via a set of matching smoke and mirrors. And we also told of Ed Balls MPs concerns  later the same October 
And although CFO SImon PIlling didnt get things entirely his own way (Morley Fire Station wasnt closed and merged with Hunslet,  but is to be day crewed instead) 
ANYWAY
 -  a couple of blogs later  ( March and May ) bring us round to this Monday  22nd July , Ed Balls MP is yet again  to meet with Simon Pilling (and we assume a few of his closest  henchmen) to discuss Morley Fire Stations future. Also in attendance will be Cllr Dawson, Cllr Varley, Cllr Finigan (who was at the original IRMP meeting), Cllr Mehboob Khan (was the head of the fire committee at the time) and FCCL believe several other local councillors too from the Morley , Ardsley and Robin Hood areas.

As these councillors are now we understand armed with the truth of what the IRMP means to them and their constituents they are pressing for some serious answers and the continued 24hr fire cover that they deserve.


Simply put, FCCL believes  the CFO and his officers lied to the fire committee over the wording of Morley staying open in the IRMP meeting which agreed the changes of, among other things, the downgrading of Morley, Rothwell & Garforth. When the local  firefighters and FBU  explained the actual implications of the outcome to Ed Balls and all the local Morley councillors they were not best pleased as they assumed that they had saved Morley from closure and were retaining 24hr cover but it soon became clear that they had had the wool pulled over their eyes by Simon and Co. 

Despite many attempts by Ed Balls & other councillors to get a meeting with the CFO to clarify the situation the CFO has consistently dodged the issue and even didn't bother to turn up to an agreed meeting with Ed Balls. Ed Balls is a very busy man and he was not impressed with the CFO's actions at all. (remember Simon P will be very close to retirement age when these cuts are implemented). 


As well as the fact that FCCL believe  the CFO lied to them the politicians  have also given them the facts about how many people actually put them selves forward for day manning at the affected stations.

Rothwell   8,

Garforth   3 or 4 

Morley 6 
(or maybe  less, we have heard since our last post there may be only ONE person willing to day crew)

Don't forget that the new system was open to everyone in West Yorkshire and if even only ONE person wants to do it and yet the closure of Morley will still go ahead on the 13th of January 2014.

It beggars belief that they will force a station closure with only one applicant as a replacement.

We understand the remainder of the staffing will come from the Ops Pool and detached duties from other stations - this could be the situation for years until they eventually find or recruit enough people to change to the day manning system ! All the personnel at Morley will be forced to  move to other stations which will over staff' those stations, this means that we will have the absurd situation of ex-Morley personnel being detached back into Morley (at extra cost) to keep the station running.  We understand 

One Watch Commander may have already been told that there are no foreseeable posts at other stations for him to be transferred to so they are 'making' a post for him at FSHQ ! - Lucky chap. 

Madness ! or Jobs for the boys? 

Why not leave the personnel where they are at Morley
until such a time that they can fill the posts properly? 
OR

IF IT AINT BROKE _ DON'T TRY AND FIX IT (mind you we already know he isn't too good with tape measures) 
And leave Morley, Rothwell and Hunslet just as they are. 

 It is absolute madness and FCCL are  beginning to think that maybe the CFO is suffering a serious impairment of judgement (AKA:   too arrogant and stubborn to admit he has messed it up  and anyway he can always blame the Councillors on the Fire Authority)

NOW TALKING OF MESSING UP
............................at the recent Inner East Area Committee at which  Station Commander Nigel Kirk of Gipton Fire Station told of a 40% increase in deliberate house fires in his station ground.


Cllr Ronald Grahame (labour)  who has had a seat on the Fire Authority  publicly said that voting through the closure of Gipton was something he regretted deeply 
AND THEN HE SAID 

Cllr Ronald Grahame

HE HAD BEEN BULLIED AND THREATENED BY
CLLR MEHBOOB KHAN

  INTO   VOTING THROUGH THE CLOSURES . 

Now lets make it clear THIS IS SERIOUS  and there is no way FCCL would ever put it in the public domain without being 110% sure 

But he said it at the committee, he repeated it to a close and trusted friend of FCCL and  he has also spoken to the FBU about what happened. 
So Cllr Mehboob Khan  bullied Ron ?
 Who else has he "influenced" 

What else has gone on
(we must presume with Simon Pillings consent as he was desperate to get things pushed through)


We will be writing publicly to Cllr Grahame  requesting he make a formal complaint to the Fire Authority  or RESIGN Next week is FCCLs Ladies of Letters*  week. 
We will  comment and blog on recent correspondence at WYFRS.

* Although there are many that would contest the term Lady and much prefer "that Woman" 

Bullying by Politicians

Over the past couple of weeks we  have been hearing allegations of  bullying within the fire authority.   

Can Politicians be bullied ? Discuss......... 

Or is it just because we are now in election mode for  2014 and  voting to close your local station is probably  a vote loser? 

We will blog more this evening.  

( we need permission to use certain peoples names first) 

2 Days - 2 Fires - 2 Deaths

It is with great sadness we  have to report that in the last two days we have read of  two fire fatalities in Leeds,  West Yorkshire. 

The first was in Bawn Vale  in Farnley where fire fighters found the body of an elderly man at 3.30am  on March 5th.  The fire was so severe that neighbours have had to be evacuated as the  building is structurally unsafe. Bawn Vales postcode reveals to us that it was in an area designated "High Risk"  by WYFRS. 

More details of the incident can be found  here  on the BBC news website 

Bawn Vale _Courtesy of the Yorkshire Post 

The next fire was also in Leeds, Harehills to be precise. Again an elderly person was the victim, who sadly died after being rescued by fire crews.  Brownhill Crescent is currently designated a "Very High Risk" area and was a back to back house (a subject on which we blogged many moons ago - see here  for details) 

Brownhill Crescent _ Courtesy of the Yorkshire Evening Post 

A firefighter who attended the scene told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “Once the fire was brought under control, firefighters wearing breathing apparatus entered the building and located a female and brought her out. She was unconscious and was taken to hospital.”

Please note it was a qualified and experienced  firefighter who rescued the lady concerned

 NOT a smoke alarm!!!!  

Both as FCCL and COVEN  we have repeatedly told of our concerns regarding the closure of Gipton Fire Station as the areas of Very High Risk are  closer to it than the proposed new "superstation" at Killingbeck. 

We are now hearing of ways and means that may allow WYFRS to legitimately increase response times across all West Yorkshires Very High Risk Areas and we will shortly  reveal  these to the public, but until noon Friday our lips are sealed. 

Will you be shocked - YES 

Will you be disgusted - YES 

Ironically  the Harehills fatality was in the Burmantofts &  Richmond Hill Ward  of Cllr Ron Grahame, who in  2011 voted to close Gipton and Stanks fire stations.  We wonder how you are feeling now Ron, because  you can be guaranteed fires in your ward will eventually go up, smoke and mirrors can only last for so long.

As ACO Martyn Redfearn said to the select committee - people will die because of these cuts in service. The post  is available HERE

Poverty is rising, the population is ageing - both of these increase the risk of fire. It has not gone un noticed by FCCL that   both of these fatalities were elderly people living in socially disadvantaged areas of the city. 

When FCCL first  set up, and was less than 24 hours old we were phoned by Hannah Stoneman of WYFRS who tried to tell us that the death of  James Whitburn of Chapeltown was "nothing to do with the IRMP"  So we can only assume that were we to ask them WYFRS would say exactly the same about the two fires above. 

Enjoy the Trip

Tomorrow the firefighters who are currently based at Gipton and    Stanks are going on a "works outing" to Normanton Fire Station to have  a look around and see what the proposed new station to be built at Killingbeck   may be like. 

Normanton Fire Station 

Station Commander at Gipton - Nigel Kirk told the Inner East Area Committee  way back in  September 2012 that the plans had already been submitted to Leeds City Council for the new station. 

On checking we discovered this was untrue. In fact to the best of our knowledge  these plans are not yet in the public domain. All we know is that it is to be a three appliance bay station (with two appliances). 

Normanton Plans   It is interesting to note the ground floor community room has a separate  entrance lobby, kitchen and toilet  (with full disabled access we assume). Is this so that the local community can use the facilities? And indeed the planning application actually refers to the building as a "community fire station"  However the papers of the Finance  Resources Committee of WYFRA held in  13th July 2012 it was specifically stated that non of the fire stations to be closed and sold as part of last years integrated risk management plan were NOT current classed as community assets as they were not used for social welfare or social interest purposes.  The papers are available to download HERE We think this may be untrue!   Isnt the  Gipton Young Fire fighters Scheme  a Social Welfare Project!  Extract from Normanton Fire Station Planning Application  FCCL would like to thank the station cat from Gipton informing us of the trip tomorrow, and as she is a little shy of posting herself we would like to point out she has not been invited along nor is there any signs on the plans for Normanton of a cat flap !  We are hoping however that our increasing network of station cats may be able to give us a hint of how the trip went. Lets just hope the showers aren't communal, like the station opened  in the past few years at Bradford!  Gipton Station Cat And if you would like to see something of the lighter side of being a fire fighter we have updated our  page  HERE with something that made quite a few of us chuckle.

Smoke Alarms or a Dog ?

We have had an  “We Told You So” weekend here at FCCL.

It is with great sadness we have to report the death of an elderly lady in Beeston, South Leeds. Joyce Williams who was in her 80s was involved in a house fire in Westbourne Place. 

The incident which took place around midnight on Saturday brings yet again one simple fact to the fore. A smoke alarm is only of use if people hear and respond to it. And in this case as detailed in the Yorkshire Evening Post   HERE   the neighbours ignored the alarm (even though they smelt smoke)  only when their windows started to heat up did they go outside and realise there was a fire in the house next door. 

This is the second time since we started this blog that this has been the case.  In Bradford Mr Brears  died when an alarm was disregarded by neighbours. For more information on this incident please click HERE   

Sadly by the time the fire fighters arrived at the fire in Beeston, Leeds on Saturday night  (incidentally from Morley and Hunslet stations)  it is thought the fire in the back to back house had been alight for several hours. For more information on back to back houses please click HERE 

We are not in a position to comment on how those neighbours must be feeling at the moment, we can only imagine  but we would like to point out several hard facts:- 

Both Morley and Hunslet stations were to be closed if the fire authority,  had it not been challenged by FCCL, the FBU and many others.  

Response times would increase regardless of what the figures say – just ask a fire fighter at Morley or Hunslet (but for heaven sake be discreet as we have known  sadly of people being victimised and harassed for supporting our cause). We sadly will  have to blog about this victimisation shortly as it involves a member of the FCCL team. 

A fire with persons involved requires the attendance of three pumps -   which at present is  adequately covered by Morley and Hunslet............ BUT after the cuts are implemented........ Hunslet is to lose a pump and Morley is to be day crewed (which we have talked about HERE). So at night, Morley  firefighters will have to get to the fire station first, which will add at least 5 mins to a  response time, then cant leave without a qualified driver and crew manager – so if there is a delay, bad weather, accident – What happens then?  

Well, we know the answer – people will die!

However - there was a house fire over the weekend  that resulted in some good news. 

In the early hours of Sunday morning crews from Gipton and Stanks attended a house fire in  Ramshead Gardens, Seacroft. The incident feed from WYFRS read like this 

House fire, ground floor of house involved, crews have used 1 hose reel and 4 breathing apparatus, 2 male adults, 2 female adults and 1 female child all suffered smoke inhalation and were transported to hospital by ambulance

But we know that it was the families Staffordshire Bull Terrier who saved the day, the dogs bark woke the family up and they  were able to alert the fire service.  Sadly we haven't been able to ascertain the dogs colour or age but we send it a virtual pat on the back from all of us here at FCCL. 

Of course we also send a pat on the back to the fire fighters at Gipton and Stanks (because at least  one or probably two of us here at FCCL consider them our favourite fire stations) - and yes we know we shouldn't really have favourites!!!!! but we do. 

So the question is 

do you install  a smoke alarm 

or do you buy a dog ? 

If you decide one, other or both is the correct answer please click on the following links

For a free home fire safety check from WYFRS 

please click  HERE

Miss Phoebe Four Paws 

And  if you really think a mans best friend is his dog - why not contact  the Dogs Trust HERE, we are not suggesting you replace a smoke alarm with a dog but you could try a spot of volunteering or a donation to a very worthy cause. 

Oh What a tangled Web!

Oh what a tangled web we weave,

When first we practise to deceive!

It has become apparent that In order to "Sell" their Cuts proposal to the Authority and Public, West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, have not exactly been telling the truth. 

Data supplies to FCCL by WYF&RS Clearly shows that they have deliberately been massaging the figures

Information supplied by Front line Officers also supports this.

There have many comments left on the FCCL Blog regarding the "Deliberate v Accidental" reporting,

Here is what one Officer said to us recently

Senior management have given instructions to fire crews on how to record "deliberate or accidental" fires. 

Officers in charge of fire engines have been told to record such fires as bin fires, bonfires, rubbish fires and even shed fires as accidental, 

One senior officer has been telling operational fire crews that they cannot record a fire as deliberate unless it has been verified by a fire investigation officer,  or someone is seen lighting a fire by the crews. 

I am not sure how many bin fires, bonfires etc are lit by accident, I would guess very few - 

but statistics tell a different story. 

Are these the same statistics being used to close fire stations? 

Another comment left on the FCCL  blog said:-

 One West Yorkshire Fire Station has been informed by

management that it has reached it's monthly "allocated total"

 of deliberate fires, and that wherever possible the causes of

 these fires should be re-classified as unknown. 



Since when

was there an allocated total of any kind of

 fire?

If someone wanted to close a fire station, they would need to show it was not required any more. One way to try and show this would be to show that the amount of calls had dropped! 

-But if fire fire calls are still being received how could you do this?

EASY

Just send appliances from another station!

As an example, We at FCCL have been looking through the data supplied by WYF&RS. 

In the case of Gipton, which was ear-marked for closure last year, it has been noticed that there were in excess of 180 calls that were attended by appliances from Leeds Fire Station into the Burmantofts area, mainly to St James' Hospital.

Using the AA Route Planner - the favourite software of 

Mr Barnes, 

WYF&RS's  

Director of Corporate Resources

We concluded that the distance from 

Gipton Fire Station to the Hospital, was 1.80 miles 

whereas from 

Leeds Fire Station the distance was 2.80 miles.

As we all know seconds can make the difference  between life and death!

Another example was that of 

Garforth Fire Station 

being sent to 

Temple Newsam House! 

35 times!

again an AA Route planner was used.

Garforth to Temple Newsam 4.8 miles

Gipton to Temple Newsam 2.5 miles

Now don't forget, The Statistics don't lie

OR DO THEY?

NOT A SAUSAGE !!!!!

If you have read our previous posts you will realise that FCCL is more than a little concerned that West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue may not be fully engaging in the process of consultation. Meetings held at  silly times, no minutes being written and don't even get us started on the fine art of how they massage and manipulate statistics. 

But it has been,  we think, one of the busiest night of the year, but the incident log on the WYFRS website has been strangely quiet since Nov 2nd ...........................  

Headed "Leeds Celebrates Bonfire Night in Style"  it drew our attention as Gipton Fire Station was mentioned .......................

* West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service reported a busy evening from bonfire-related incidents.
Gipton Fire Station alone had about 15 calls through the day up until about 8.30pm.
Watch Commander Matthew Walsh said the majority were from people concerned that their bonfires were in danger of getting out of hand and wanting assistance.

But not a sausage on their website about it..................how strange ! 

The full article can be read  HERE on the YEP website

There was also a  grenade attack on a hair salon in Bradford  - which we thought surely deserved a mention as the paper was so complimentary about the fire service. 

The full article can be read HERE on the Telegraph and Argus Website

Then of course there is the main page of the WYFRS website itself 

TO send YOUR VIEWS on the proposed cuts in West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Provision 

Click HERE  to view the consultation documents.

You can also send your comments via snail mail to 

Hannah Stoneman   or email her HERE

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue

Oakroyd Hall

Bradford Road

Birkenshaw

West Yorkshire

BD11 2DY



And finally we have to say thank you to Mark Faulkner for making us smile. We had heard of blacksmiths being lucky at weddings and coal men bringing good luck at New Year, but we just know this couple who married on Oct 20th the day of the TUC march in central London will have a long and happy marriage. Marks wife on spotting the happy couple thrust an FBU flag in the brides hand and took this photo.....

Whoops ,  we almost forgot - a brilliant article about the march and rally held in Leeds on Saturday 3rd November made its way on the The Guardian website ------ it is most certainly worth a read and can be found on our FBU pages HERE

Interesting facts and a lot of fiction

We at FCCL are deep in studying the data provided to us by WYFRS and are discovering some interesting facts  that  prove WYFRS are writing fiction.

Tomorrow we will start to publish some of the "interesting" things we have discovered.......why for example is a street in Halton deemed low risk when all around it are high? When incidents in that area have increased by 27% in 2011/12?




And just to keep you up to date - Friday an elderly lady was involved in a chip pan fire in Garforrth and appliances from Garforth, Gipton and Stanks attended.

What will happen when ALL THREE of these stations close? 

Letter To Fire Authority Councillors

Councillors of the West Yorkshire Fire Authority 
cc - to Inner East Leeds Councillors & MPs 

We wish to inform you that we have applied to English Heritage for Gipton Fire  Station to be listed as an historic asset.The community have applied for her to be grade 2 listed. 

As members of  WYFRA  we believe that your decision in December 2011 to close  and sell Gipton  which is by National Audit Office  standards a LOW COST station was wrong, moving the fire and rescue service further away from areas of very high risk in inner east Leeds  As you are no doubt aware this decision has opened the flood gates and now you are being asked to vote in December  2012 to axe even more stations. 

However,  this email is to ask for support to review the decision you made in Dec 2011 and  have a full and frank debate about keeping Gipton operational; an option we think will provide better cover and value for money. 

I wish to draw to your attention the numerous press articles below about our listing  application and also to the firecutscostlives  website which is promoting lively debate on the WYFRS Integrated Risk Management Plans and which is receiving substantial traffic from not only West Yorkshire (approx 75% of hits) but other areas of the country and is getting unsolicited emails of support from as far afield as the United States. 

As we at FCCL believe in openness and transparency we will be publishing any responses of support for a debate at WYFRA to  keep  Gipton operational and also your views on her potential listing as an historic asset. 
If we do not hear from you  - we will also be publishing a list of elected members who choose to ignore this email request for a response within 10 working days. Your opinion on her status either way is important.We at FCCL believe in openness and transparency within the democratic process. Please note we are not suggesting you predetermine yourselves as elected members, we merely wish you to review the status of Gipton in the light of a potential listing. 

Why borrow money to build new - when you can renovated and repair, saving a beautiful building from potential demolition at the same time? 

Article from BBC website is here  HERE   


Morning Star - HERE    


The Guardian  - HERE   


Yorkshire Evening Post  - HERE 

And most importantly the Firecutscostlives website is here  HERE 

Do YOU wish to be the Councillor who was responsible for decimating the fire and rescue service?  

We hope not !  We also have to ask why there are no different options being presented to you at your meeting on December 21st 2012  - why are the proposals so black  & white, yes and no?   

Yours in Unity
The Fire Cuts Cost Lives Team

--

Fire Cuts Cost Lives

Sign up for email alerts from FCCL at our homepage

http://www.firecutscostlives.blogspot.co.uk/

Plan B revealed - How to Save Gipton Fire Station

For many months now four of us have been working on  PLAN B.

(although many have indicated they much prefer plan C or should that be G   - but that's top secret and we will reveal it  in early December)

After the quite frankly appalling decision that  the West Yorkshire Fire Authority made  in December 2011 to close 10 fire stations and build 5 new ones, we (community activists Sarah Covell and Sam Hirst , retired firefighter  Andy Killingbeck, & FBU secretary  David Williams)  decided that something had to be done about it.

As we at FCCL are all Leeds based we targeted the old lady of the WYFRS estate 

GIPTON FIRE STATION.

Gipton today held a 75th Birthday Party - attended and indeed opened by the fire services chief hatchet man CFO Simon Pilling. And perhaps that party didn't start off exactly as he planned,  as early this morning the BBC slapped it all over the local front page of their website what we had done. We are so proud we wont stop smirking for a week.  We have  applied to English Heritage to have Gipton Fire Station listed as an historic asset.  See the article Here

In layman terms this means

FCCL  HAVE APPLIED TO HAVE GIPTON FIRE STATION GRADE 2 LISTED

This means several things .................

• She will have to remain basically intact and any alterations be approved by English Heritage and Leeds city council planners
• She will not be allowed to be demolished
• She will if sold need special permission for any planning consent

So  what does this mean for WYFRS?  - Well trying to sell a building with a potential  listing hanging over it will be "challenging"  and will without a doubt mean the price of her will be lower than previously anticipated. 

If we are successful  and she does get grade 2 status - what can you do with a 1930's fire station? 

 ....... keep her operational !!!!

London Fire and Rescue we discovered during our research actually value their old stations and sympathetically restore them whilst keeping them operational. They actually write papers in partnership with English Heritage on the subject of fire station restoration. Read the document HERE

We know as  Gipton is closer to the areas of high risk in the area than the proposed site of South Seacroft for the new station is  it  would make sense  (if WYFRS know the meaning of the word) to keep her open and plough the £££££'s   it will cost to buy the land and build  a station into renovating Gipton to a suitably high standard for the staff who work in her,  whilst retaining her historic value for the community.

We will be informing all our local councillors and MPs of our views and will strongly  urge them to support the listing application 

AND  keeping her operational. 

In the  supposed age of austerity why close a 

VERY HIGH RISK  _ LOW COST STATION 

and build a new one? 

If we are successful of course this will also  bring into consideration the stations at Stanks, Moortown and even Garforth and Hunslet   as the predicted response times etc will invariable change - we believe for the better of the people of  East Leeds.  

And below are a few pics of why we think she should be listed 

She has her original tiled walls and door frame that are not altered 

Her parquet floor upstairs is intact 

And her beautiful curvy appliance bay tiles are SO industrial art deco 

We will tell you more about Giptons history  later  on but for now raise a glass of whatever you fancy  and wish   

Gipton Fire Station a very happy 75th Birthday 

and a long and sustained operational life. 

It's not only doggys go WOOF!

It's not only doggys go WOOF!

We have heard rumours of a serious incident reported to us by concerned members of the public in Seacroft, East Leeds, (which hasnt been reported on the WYFRS incident site)  where pumps from Gipton & Stanks were mobilised yesterday to rush to the aid of a lady recently discharged from hospital. She was receiving oxygen therapy and lit a cigarette.........................

Unfortunately  the cyclinder was leaking so when the cigerette was lit the  oxygen ignited  WOOF!!!!!!  and we understand the woman has  unfortunately severe burns.

These are the sorts of incidents that no amount of smoke alarms  can prevent............(or risk based planning assumptions predict.)

Man dies in house fire in Chapeltown Leeds

Sadly we have to report that an elderly man died in a house fire in Chapeltown  Leeds earlier today. We offer our sincere condolences to his family.

But it does serve to demonstrate that FIRE KILLS and that it was crews from both Gipton and Moortown that turned out. As the new proposals currently on the table  are to close Moortown and Giptons fate has already been decided  (by our local politicians) we can't help but wonder what will happen in the coming years. 

the full report fromthe evening news can be found here Fire Kills in Leeds

If you wish to help us oppose these cuts in provision please contact us at firecutscostlives@gmail.com.