Another Cat - Another Story !

Our  ears pricked up this morning when another cat  in the WYFRS estate spilled the beans on what was happening on her patch. 

The picture she sent gave us a bit of a hint.

Leeds Station Cat


It seems that firefighters based at Leeds Station on Kirkstall Road are being paid
to paint the interior of the station

(whilst on duty!)

Obviously we hope this is being paid legitimately via the payroll  system, although we are not sure how?

Overtime maybe ? 

This raises many issues, including that of equality.
Do all fire fighters at all stations get the opportunity to tart up their stations ?
Was a proper procurement exercise undertaken?
Health and Safety also springs to mind, although FCCL arent too worried about their ability to use ladders. 


BUT 
and its quite a


BIG BUT 
(yes i can imagine all the snide comments thank you very much) 

WHY AREN'T  THEY ENGAGED IN OPERATIONAL DUTIES?

You know the run of the mill stuff like Home Fire Safety Checks, SCRI's,

The risk banding for Leeds in 2012 is VERY HIGH the projected risk band for 2013 is also  VERY HIGH. 
Is this because instead of doing their proper jobs, staff there are wielding paintbrushes?


 Leeds areas for performance improvement are


Road Traffic Collisions

Malicious False Alarms

Actual Rescues


As the same document  we obtained these figures from states that Leeds FS will be utilising  staff and resources from Moortown and Cookridge to enable them to achieve their targets, we don't understand  why qualified fire fighters are being allowed (and indeed paid ) to decorate a fire station!

We wonder if the councillors on the Fire Authority know and condone this practice?

For information the Leeds District Risk Reduction Plan is available HERE

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.