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                     

Goodbye Marsden We Will Miss You..............

As of  Midnight tonight, fire and rescue cover in the Colne Valley is significantly reduced. 

Marsden Fire Station Closes at Midnight 

WYFRA seem to think that it is no longer necessary 

- as cover can be provided by

 Slaithwaite  further down the Colne Valley.

Here is what WYFRS say about Marsden ........

Marsden Fire Station, built in 1956, is located on the A62 just outside the village centre and is set in the dramatic and beautiful scenery of the Peak District National Park and the South Pennine moorland.  There is a population of 3832 and the area incorporates 1690 dwellings. The station is managed by a station commander who is also responsible for Slaithwaite and Meltham fire stations. The station is staffed by a full time local retained support officer and retained firefighters who operate the 'on call' retained duty system.  The staff take a pride and perform an active role within the community supporting many community events with the village and raising money for local charities through car wash days.The biggest risk within the station is Standedge tunnel, the longest and deepest rail and canal tunnel in the country.  Marsden also has large tracks of moorland much of which is classified as SSI status with big areas owned by The National Trust.  The station borders with Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service.

So we wonder what is going to happen if there is a light at either end of Standedge Tunnel ?  

We do know accidents happen  -  as can be read in the Saddleworth News HERE 

Lets just hope (and prayers might be handy too) that there isnt an incident in the tunnel,  as its a long drive from Diggle! Even in a fire engine...... 

AND FINALLY 

We have been hearing rumours FOR MONTHS that at the end of April 2013, CFO Simon Pilling was going to announce (proudly no doubt) that West Yorkshire no  longer had any 

VERY HIGH RISK AREA's  - all remaining were to be down graded to "just"   HIGH 

As there have been deaths recently in VERY HIGH RISK areas in Leeds - we think it would be foolish of WYFRS to make any such announcements.

Tomorrow is MAY 1st  - we watch and will wait to see what happens ! 

Dragons and Dishwashers !

 A few weeks ago we posted about an incident in Keighley where a dishwasher had caused a fire in a kitchen and a family had a very lucky escape when the burglar alarm activated. You can read the entire article here. We obviously don't know if it was a Hotpoint model  but what we do know is that WYFRS did not log  it on their incident log, perhaps they didn't think it worthy of their  valuable time!  

And some people in WYFRS have very valuable time indeed - click here    to discover how much the Chief Fire Officer earns, and make sure you have a packet of hankies to wipe the tears from your eyes when they water! 

So today when the press is awash with news about potential fire hazards in regard to dishwashers you would think they might put a little something on their website - check your model of dishwasher or something (especially as they had  a demonstrable incident caused by one recently) 

But NO -

So if you want a job doing - do it yourself 

Below is a link to 

The Electrical Safety Council  

on which you can search for  electrical  items that have been recalled by the manufacturer. 

There is more about the dodgy dishwashers 

here on the ITV website

Other Fire and Rescue Services are tweeting, blogging and facebooking about incidents EVERYDAY

We do not understand why WYFRS  continues to  have such a blatant disregard for transparency! 

And remember - what West Yorkshire say when incidents occur   

Well if they don't start improving their warning notices

 - they will most likely be messed up 

EVEN MORE 

And before we go as a token gesture to 
St Georges Day, we have been having a heated debate in the FCCL office. 

If and when a fire breathing dragon enters the office, should you extinguish its "breath" with   

a)   CO2 fire extinguisher

b)   Dry Powder extinguisher

c)    Wet Foam extinguisher

d)   Water CO2 extinguisher

e)   Wait till it triggers the sprinklers 

f)   Approach with caution and smother it with 

      a fire blanket
g)   Offer it an extra strong mint..... 

Simon Pilling - Resigned

We are hearing rumours of  the resignation of 

Chief Fire Officer Simon Pilling 

And as Simon knows to his cost we here at FCCL have our ears close to the ground 

(and noses to the grindstone even on a bank holiday Monday). 

And we never knowingly blog an untruth, so  once we can confirm it we will update this page. 

His close colleague Sir Norman has decided to throw in the towel, maybe simple* Mr Pilling has had enough too ( we wouldn't blame him to be honest) 

When we refer to simple we mean he hasn't got a knighthood, it is absolutely no reference to this  at all, we promise

60,000 and counting

Over the weekend FCCL tipped the 60,000 hits mark. 

Not bad for a little blog site that aimed to get 1,751 hits .....

Open letter to Hilary Benn MP

Fire cuts cost lives - why did you delete an email  unread!!!

courtesy of British Inspiration Trust   

Hilary, 

I was very sad to note that an email sent to you by the campaign group firecutscostlives on the 26^th November 2012  (of which I am a part)  was deleted by you unread  yesterday.  It was to ask if you would support the early day motion 694 brought by  Kate Hoey. I can  only assume from  its deletion you are happy with the proposals to massacre the fire and rescue service when you clearly said in an email to me  dated  2^nd December 2011

 “I am of course concerned about the impact cuts may have across West Yorkshire, especially if the Government persists with its unfair treatment of the Met Fire Authorities which face a further unfair budget reduction in future years. The Authority does not want to be doing this.

On what’s proposed locally, my principal concern as your MP is to ensure that local residents have the same effective fire service cover with an ability to respond to incidents within the required times, not just from the proposed new fire station at Killingbeck but also from other stations around Leeds. That is what I have sought assurances about. As you know, the Chief Fire Officer Simon Pilling has said he fully understands the concerns of people who have objected to the proposals but he remains convinced that the plans are operationally sound and will “still enable us to deliver a first-class emergency service across the whole of West Yorkshire.” The thing that will convince me is seeing that promise kept, and I can assure you that I will keep a close eye on this and I am sure you will too.”

I would like to think you too like myself and many others feel that Simon Pillings “promise”  has not been kept – that now we will not have the same fire cover as the IRMP proposed for 2012/13 will remove assurances  made that we would  have sufficient cover. But sadly your deletion of  the email means that you still I can only assume that you believe the rhetoric of Simon Pilling and not the valid concerns of your constituents and operational fire fighters and Fire Brigades Union who oppose these cuts.  Many labour councillors and an MP turned out to the November 3^rd March and Rally organised by the FBU although I can only hope that the labour controlled fire authority will not do as last year and three line whip members when they know  that the cuts they implement will cost lives. Surely being in “opposition” means just that – why rubber stamp cuts you know are wrong?

With regard to the response times that are circulated by WYFRS do you genuinely believe that the entirety of Burmantofts and Richmond Hill (and indeed other areas of your constituency ) can be covered by one simple figure. 6:27 seconds ? It will of course impact  on the poorer and socially deprived areas of the wards which should surely be your major concern? (but of course these are the people and areas least likely to vote) But if you delete emails from campaign groups I can only assume the worst, you are in favour of these cuts and will see provision decimated in our area.   

Sadly  as non of the labour councillors bothered to note or  comment at the inner east area committee  a few weeks ago (and I appreciate it isn’t your patch) but house fires in Seacroft and Killingbeck are rising. Even the leafy suburb of Chapel Allerton has only 2 less house fires a year than Richmond Hill! Statistics can deceive and of course a middle aged woman cannot compete against uniformed officials who use their power to deceive.

Anyway,   this morning I have FOI’d  WYFRS to request a copy of the letter of you wrote in response to last years IRMP,  that  Simon Pilling assured the fire authority you had verbally retracted when he contacted you last year.  I  previously requested it from WYFRS and was refused by officers of the authority who said I required your permission, I am confident under Freedom of Information regulations this is not true. It would however be quicker if you would supply me with a copy of the letter yourself.  I am sure the community will find it an interesting read ................ and perhaps at somepoint you can explain yourself to us – after one of your constituents has died in a fire perhaps!

I am deeply disappointed in your actions Hilary, I naively thought better of you. A labour MP surely should fight cuts in public service provision and the job losses that ensue?

Please note I have posted this email on the firecutscostlives blog and I along with thousands of our readers look forward to the response .

Sarah Covell

However - three cheers for Gerry Sutcliffe!!! 

courtesy of Telegraph  & Argus 

the Bradford South MP (Labour)  who HAS responded to our email  AND signed the Early Day Motion. 

Many Thanks Gerry for your concern and prompt response. If you would like to thank Gerry in person his website is  HERE

Simon has an FRU - a little transit van !

This morning in the Yorkshire Post we read with interest of fire crews in South Yorkshire refusing to staff Small Incident Units - the equivalent of Fire Response Units (FRUs)  in West Yorkshire. The full article can be read HERE

Which got us thinking about FRU's and as we were in a poetic mood, look what the FCCL team came up with 

( we thinks its rather ...........good.)

Simon has an FRU

A little transit van

He drives it round the streets of Leeds

Put fires out – IF he can!!!

An FRU is very small

With not a lot of kit

No substitute for propers crews

In fact it’s really..............  (insert word of choice)

What use are FRU’s to me ?

I hear you cry with glee

They keep attendance figures low

(the’re creeping up you see)

For little fires they aren’t so bad

But little fires grow

And when they are so well alight,
a proper crew must go.

Once Simon took his FRU

To Moortown. long ago

I spoke to people crewing it

They told me  tales of woe

“It cannot put out car fires”

“This red vans such a farce”

So Simon take your FRU

And drive it up your..............(again please insert word of choice)

We here at firecutscostlives think

An FRU is wrong

When fat cats up in Birkenshaw

Have done their sums “pete tong”

And one day soon, someone will die

And then we all will say

“We told you Simon, did you hear

What firefighters say ?”

Reducing front line services

In such a viscous way, 

no smoke alarm or FRU

Will change what we all say.................

FIRE CUTS COST LIVES

We have before mentioned a paper written by  the Fire Brigades Union called "It's about time" it was ages ago,  in an article of the same name available HERE   The paper its self has a very interesting item on FRU's in which it talks of one based in South Yorkshire. 

The full document is available Here but for speed we enclose an excerpt below

However today has not been all doom and gloom - we are hearing reports from Morley that over 2,000 people have signed the objection to Morley Station Closing. 

The information is on the Morley Independents blogsite which is just a click away so please click here for the Morley Independents Blogspot

And as  this page has in the main been full of positives - if you want to see something that is so bad it's good click  Here to see Blaze Bear in action decorating his Christmas Tree - the continuity is truly dire (watch the fireplace!) 

Protected Disclosure - is it time for somebody to blow the whistle ?

Most people we have met who work in the fire service 
(and that number increases on a daily basis)

 agree that 

FIRE CUTS COST LIVES. 

So as in our previous post Employee Consultation    ......... we discuss the lack of transparency and consultation with "coal face" firefighters.


Very few people disagree with us - of course the Chief Fire Officer Simon Pilling does, he seems to view these proposed cuts in provision as positive - all we can think is that in the confines of his private office he wears rose tinted glasses + a pair of blinkers!  (which may be the reason he puts his assistants in the fire line instead of facing the public himself.) click HERE to read what Ed Balls MP said about him. 


Even one of his Assistant Chief Fire Officers agrees with us (or perhaps quite simply refused to lie to a parliamentary select committee). Martyn Redfearns appearance reported by the BBC is available HERE  and our article about the cuts is HERE - and aptly named If there are cuts - will people DIE


So how come ACO Redfearn told the truth - well in reality we will never know?  But lets make an educated guess...........

31st December 2012  its bye bye Martyn --- after 30 years service he will retire. So even if he was to be hauled over the coals it would in reality make no difference to him. And  in reality he is also covered by the

THE LAW

There is a law which allows an employee to "blow the whistle"

Whistleblowing is when a worker reports suspected wrongdoing at work. Officially this is called ‘making a disclosure in the public interest’.

A worker can report things that aren’t right, are illegal or if anyone at work is neglecting their duties, including:

• someone’s health and safety is in danger
• damage to the environment
• a criminal offence
• the company isn’t obeying the law (like not having the right insurance)
• covering up wrongdoing

So how do you blow the whistle .........?

The way a worker can ‘blow the whistle’ on wrongdoing depends on whether they feel they can tell their employer.

The worker should check their employment contract or ask human resources/personnel if their company has a whistleblowing procedure.

If they feel they can, they should contact their employer about the issue they want to report

If they can’t tell their employer, they should contact a ‘prescribed person or body’.

A list of prescribed bodies is available HERE   

OR

there is also a charity called Public Concern at Work who can advise you. Their website is available HERE  

PCAW can advise you and also have trained legal advisors who can help and guide you through the process (and will also talk through your concerns confidentially).

So if your head is telling you something is wrong, and as we strongly suspect WYFRS are manipulating their figures - 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE  

use your head, put your hand on your heart

and  do something about it.

IF YOU ARE TELLING THE TRUTH 

THE LAW WILL PROTECT YOU !

(and just in case you are interested IF you are proved by an employment tribunal to have been dismissed because  of a protected disclosure the compensation has no limit) 

We here at FCCL have personal experience of WYFRS trying to silence us and we can only imagine what an ethical dilemma it will be for the fire fighter or other employee who is brave enough to  do this, but surely nobody reading this blog would disagree it is the responsible thing to do. 

Fire fighters are brave people who do a dirty, dangerous job, but if these cuts go through it will get even more dangerous and WYFRS senior officers do most certainly know how to play dirty .................may be its time for a change.............................. 

And of course as we at FCCL believe in transparency at some point when we are able we will tell you how WYFRS tried to 

SHUT US UP 

Anyway as usual if you would like to take part in the process of consultation  please see the details below. And if you would like to read what constitutes a "stakeholder" in the engagement process click HERE 

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