FALSIFICATION OF RECORDS AT WYFRS

Well, well, well look what we have been sent

 

In accordance with LCC petitions guidance, please see the attached documents relating to a petition that 264 people have signed; the contents of which are self explanatory.

 

It has come to this stage because  senior investigating officers in the Fire Service, and some Fire Authority members, refuse to acknowledge the fact or take accountability for the proven facts that;

 

1. A fire engine and crew were misused at the tax payers expense.

2. The falsification of official documents to hide fact 1.

3. The people of and businesses of Wetherby were put at an unacceptable risk for over 4 hours.

 

We would like assurances that this incident, and others like it, where operational crews are stood down to carry out charity work will not happen again.

We would like an “independent” investigation or neutral interpretation of the proven facts.

Suitable action taken against the person who allowed this incident to happen and falsified the records.

An acknowledgment that this incident was wrong and an apology to the general public.

 

But WYFRS  seem non too  keen to  accept the fact that a full and frank investigation should take place.......... here is a response from  Mr Barnes , the WYFRS solicitors. And sadly we kid you not he did reply to a member of the public in shouty capital letters, (how very unprofessional and rude).

 

We copied and pasted the below directly from the email to

demonstrate the size of font Mr Barnes used.

 

I am not sure where you obtain your advice from but I am obliged to inform you that there is no provision in the FRA Constitution for a petition to trigger a public discussion.

The next meeting of the FRA is the AGM on 30th July. There is a limited provision subject to compliance with procedural requirements and certain exclusions for members of the public to ask questions at FRA meetings but if you read the

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!)

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) 

Labour Party to the Rescue (well in Bradford)

Lets face it folks it not often we give a round of applause 

to POLITICIANS here at FCCL 

BUT TODAY we are making an exception.........................

We have decided to give 

Bradford Metropolitan District Council 

our very first 

"Pat On the Back Award "  

for doing something right in regard to fire and rescue in West Yorkshire.  

Our first award - will Leeds be next we wonder ? 

The transcript in full is as follows

The Council notes the Government’s plans to privatise Fire Services by the back door.

This Council believes that essential emergency services such as the Fire Service should be concerned with protecting the public and not with the pursuit of profit. 

We believe that the privatisation of fire services would put lives at risk and undermine the principle of a service for all people whenever they need it.

The Council therefore resolves to:

1) Oppose the Government’s proposals for the back door privatisation of fire services.

2) Write to Brandon Lewis MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department of Communities and Local Government and to the Chair of the House of Commons Regulatory Reform Committee making clear its opposition to Fire Service privatisation and its concerns about the impact that such a move would have on the safety and security of the residents and businesses of Bradford District.

3) Call on the District’s MPs to oppose the privatisation of fire services.

4) Call on the other West Yorkshire Authorities to take similar action to protect the County’s fire services from privatisation.

The full BMDC decision list from the meeting of the 26th March 2013 is available here

And please don't forget

 But before we sign off for the evening - remember  the clocks go forward on Sunday - the perfect time to  test your smoke alarms, see here  on the West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue website for advice on home fire safety. 

Rather ironically we note on the page link listed above it says 

In West Yorkshire, 29% of smoke alarms fail to operate, mostly because of missing or flat batteries.  Test the batteries in your smoke alarm every week, it could save your life!

Well actually WYFRS  - YES WE DID   - which is why FCCL will continue to campaign against cuts in provision to the fire and rescue service. 

Fire cuts really will cost lives! 

So if your smoke alarm doesn't go BEEP BEEP BEEP when you  test it on Sunday  (before stuffing your face with chocolate) 

click here to book a home fire safety check.  

And if your smoke alarm was provided by WYFRS in the first place and the battery has failed please drop us a line to let us know. Our email address is available here. 

Insurance, Just a thought!

We all should have some form of Insurance. 

Whether it be- 

House Insurance

 Car insurance 

 OR Life Insurance

We hope we never have to make a claim on them, 
But they are there for peace of mind!

When taking out insurance, we all have a choice of the type of Policy to have

The Council Tax Precepts (along with funding from the Taxes that you pay), Pay for the Fire Service (and Police). It is your insurance that in the unlikely event you need them, they will be there.

But................. what happens when the Fire Service (and other Public Services) are cut and the service you pay for is reduced?

What......... can you do then? 

Apparently – Nothing! 

You can’t claim a discount or refund for the reduction in service.

But you do a have a voice! 

SO when plans are proposed to reduce these services......... you can object. 

Tell the Politicians locally and nationally,

Tell the unaccountable Puppet Masters - The Chief and Assistant Chief Fire Officers who concoct these plans.

NO! - NOT ACCEPTABLE

THE WEST YORKSHIRE FIRE & RESCUE SERVICE's  latest proposals will decimate the Fire Service in West Yorkshire.

Attendance Times Will Increase for the Majority of Us.

Leeds 29 out of 34  Council Wards
Bradford 22 out of 30 Council Wards
Wakefield 17 out of 19 Council Wards
Calderdale 18 out of 19 Council Wards
Kirklees 20 out of 24 Council Wards

Will all have Increased Attendance times!

They say that the fitting of Smoke alarms means that you will be less likely to die in the fire. 

But 

only if you are able to get out, in the first place.

They do not stop fires from happening!

FACT - The longer a fire burns, the more severe it will get. So the longer it takes for a Fire Appliance to reach you, the more chance there is of you losing all your possessions - even if you have managed to get yourself and family out!

“OK”   you say, I've got house insurance to pay for them all replacing. (Well hopefully you should have!)

BUT ... what about all those memories and the family pet?  

(The one the Fire Service tells you not to go back for - and doesn't know what a smoke alarm is!). 

What would you not leave the house without - click here to see

And then the  next year watch your insurance premiums increase .

(More than the amount it would take to maintain the current level of service!).

The fire service argues that calls are reducing.................

The figures they have used to bamboozle the public and baffle the politicians which have been manipulated so much; you've heard the saying;-

 Lies,Damn Lies and Statistics. -Nothing is nearer to THE TRUTH .

 The Consultation document is so full of Gobbledygook that to the lay person it is undecipherable, (and councillors are just like you and I - lay people)

But they are still needed just in case!  Just like your other insurance policies.

The Fire Service has a duty to consult. 

Have you had a Public meeting in your area? 

If not DEMAND ONE !

The so called "consultation period"  closes on 30^th November.

You have the chance to make the difference!

The consultation documents are available HERE

Send your objections to

Hannah Stoneman 

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue

Oakroyd Hall

Bradford Road

Birkenshaw

West Yorkshire

BD11 2DY
hannah.stoneman@westyorksfire.gov.uk (click HERE to send email)

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. 

Will there be redundancies at the Top Table ?

On careful reading of the Executive Committee Meeting held on June 13th we have noticed the following paragraph. The full docs are available Here

Principle Command Team  - Succession Planning


The Committee considered a detailed report from the Chief Executive/ Chief Fire Officer setting out options for future succession planning and possible revisions of the principal officer uniformed service command structure which also affected the future structure of the management board. The Chief Executive / Chief Fire Officer expressed his preference for adoption of Option 1 (as detailed in the report) which would in due course potentially reduce the overall number of Principal Officers. It was noted that there would be a lengthy "trial period" which would enable a robust operating assessment to be made of the practical feasibility of the proposals which would also require approval from the full Authority in due course as such matters are "reserved matters".


SO IF YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE MAKING  REDUCTIONS _ WHY HAVE YOU JUST APPOINTED TWO NEW ACO'S ?  One to start 1st  January  (David Walton of WMFRS) and Steve Rhodes of WYFRS to take up  post in  July  2013.

We would also like to add that as with all WYFRA documents - none of the actual reports referred to are in the public domain.  So we  can only guess that Option 1 - was to keep the fat cats fed and continue to reduce the people who actually do the hard and dirty work of fire and rescue.

A Few Facts and Figures ..........

Obviously over the coming three months of community consultation it is going to be vital for members of the public and other interested parties to  have access to information regarding the proposed closures of fire stations in West Yorkshire. We are also aiming to provide information regarding other organisations and how they are fighting these proposed cuts in provision.

Below is a letter sent to all West Yorkshire Fire Authority Members by David Williams the Brigade Secretary (elect) of the Fire Brigades Union.

Fire Brigades Union

Fire service Head Quarters

Bradford Road

Birkenshaw

Bradford

BD11 2DY

IRMP Proposals

3 September 2012

Dear Fire `Authority Member,

At the Fire Authority meeting to be held on Friday 7 September 2012, you will be asked by the Chief Fire Officer to support his IRMP proposals and that they should now go out for public consultation. These proposals, that in the CFO’s opinion, will best prepare the service to see them through to 2020 with the expected budget cuts that may come.

The Fire Brigades Union, the voice of the front line firefighters, who attend emergency incidents daily, do not agree with the view of the CFO and that his proposals would place the service in the best position up until 2020 if they are implemented. In fact, we feel that these proposals will not only put the members of the communities at a much greater risk of death or injury, but will also place firefighters, who will be responding to their emergencies, at a far greater risk as well.  

The local council tax payers already pay for the service they receive from WYFR by way of their council tax, so why should they be expected to pay the same, or in fact pay more should the precept be increased in future years, for a far worse service then they currently receive? These are the people who elect their councillors to represent their best interests and by not supporting these savage cuts to their fire & rescue service, you will be doing just that.

It is claimed that these proposals will increase the response times in 23 higher risk electoral wards, but what about the rest of the authority area that will receive a far worse level of service delivery? The proposals also fail to mention that this improvement in response to these 23 wards will be dependent on the fire appliances actually being in their new fire station buildings. You have to ask the question - what  is the chance of that being the case when, the fewer fire appliances that are left are now covering an area twice the size and answering fire calls that used to be shared between two fire stations. How on earth can that even try to be dressed up in any shape or form as an improvement of service delivery. The distance from one edge of a stations area to the opposite side has dramatically increased, so doesn’t need a genius to work out that response times will always be dependent on where the appliance actually is, whether it be carrying out community safety or returning from a previous incident.

We do not dispute that accidental fire deaths and injuries have decreased in recent years and that is greatly down to the community safety work that has been undertaken in recent years by the employees of WYFR, however, the community safety service provision has also been cut with reduced budgets, a point raised at the recent select committee hearing by ACO Redfearn, where he basically said that these proposed budget cuts would cost lives in the long term. What you need to realise is that with a reduction in community safety provision, be it by the community safety teams or by fewer operational firefighters being available to carry out this work, that it may result in an increase in primary and secondary fires and as such the Fire Authority may then find itself with an increased requirement in its intervention resources i.e. Fire stations, fire appliances and firefighters.

Recently, in news coverage of the latest proposed cuts it was stated that West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service was one of the best and most highly regarded fire  & rescue services in the country, an honour that we should be truly proud of. But importantly, they went on to add, that should the proposed cuts go ahead this may not be the case in the future. A view that we reluctantly share, as we believe we would not have the resources or frontline firefighters to deal with emergency incidents as effectively as we do now.

Nationally the FBU have been campaigning to raise awareness of the number of firefighters killed whilst on duty following a massive increase in their numbers, thankfully none of these have been in West Yorkshire. However, if the proposed cuts go ahead, the Fire Brigades Union feel that with less fire appliances, less firefighters and longer to arrive at incidents then it is only a matter of time before a firefigher is seriously injured or killed in West Yorkshire. By taking longer to arrive at incidents, emergency incidents will deteriorate, fires will have time to intensify and should rescues be required then crews will be placed in the moral dilemma of whether to act to save a life, they will enter burning buildings when in reality to ensure their own safety they should not.

The Fire Brigades Union urge you to reject these proposals at the authority meeting on 7^th September and jointly with us, we campaign together to get adequate funding for West Yorkshire and the fire service in general to stop these cuts being made to the emergency front line services and give the people of West Yorkshire the best fire and rescue service in the country.

Yours

Dave Williams

Brigade Secretary Elect

West Yorkshire FBU

If you wish to contact the Fire Brigades Union directly their website and details are available  here !