Firefighter injury shows 'need for action' on cuts

A union has called for "action" against years of fire service cuts after a firefighter was injured in a restaurant blaze.

Cleveland Fire Authority will bring plans to address a £1.2m deficit to public consultation later, including reducing hours at Thornaby Fire Station and an overtime cap.

But Cleveland Fire Brigades Union (FBU) secretary James Sudron said there had been "significant" staff reductions since 2010, and limited crew on the day a firefighter was hospitalised in Middlesbrough showed it was "time to draw a line in the sand".

The fire service said it would not introduce measures that "compromise our ability to respond effectively to emergencies or protect the communities we serve".

Sudron said Cleveland firefighters were "constantly having to do more with less".

Only six fire engines were staffed and operational on the morning of the restaurant fire on Linthorpe Road in June, he said.

"Our minimum is 14, so it was well below that."

More appliances came into use later in the day and crews from neighbouring service Durham and Darlington were also called to help staff the fire.

"I think that day was almost like a realisation for us that now is the time to say that enough is enough and we have to take action," Sudron said.

"Any further reduction in front-line appliances and staffing risks undermining both public safety and firefighter safety."

Cleveland Fire Brigade said the firefighter taken to hospital was not injured because of the operational tactics employed or the resources available.

It added there were "long-standing" and "established" arrangements to share cover between services which were "used routinely by fire and rescue services throughout the country".

Sudron said the current government funding model, based in part on population density, was unfair to Teesside.

"Some of our wards are the most deprived in the country," he said.

"We have a lot of petrochemical industry here, we have Teesport, we have a large road network.

"We have some of the highest deliberate fire setting in the country [and] undertake a lot of prevention work because of that."

MP Andy McDonald said local changes, such as those proposed at Thornaby Fire Station, were being driven by "funding pressures rather than a reduction in demand".

He and other local Labour MPs Jonathan Brash and Luke Myer had urged the government to review Cleveland's funding position.

Meanwhile, Conservative MP for Stockton West Matt Vickers raised the service's "funding crisis" in Parliament in May and said the funding model "simply does not reflect Cleveland's needs".

The BBC asked the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) for a response to safety concerns and whether it would reform the funding model.

The department responded with figures about how much it provides to the Cleveland brigade and claims about national schemes around such things as wildfire training.

MHCLG said it was working on a "comprehensive" review of funding formulas ahead of the next Spending Review, but no details have yet emerged.

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