Controversy over proposals for East Sussex firefighters: opposition petition launched

Campaigners and firefighters' union leaders opposing proposals to reorganise East Sussex's Fire and Rescue Service (ESFRS) have received thousands of signatures in a petition against the plans. A public consultation began in April into a set of suggestions put to East Sussex's fire authority by the management of the county's fire and rescue service. Leading fire officers said these proposals, called an "Integrated Risk Management Plan", are designed to "improve community safety", "improve resources" and free some staff to carry out prevention and other safety work. But the "re-allocation" of staff has been seen by firefighters' union chiefs and others as leading to up to 33 job losses. According to the service's own documents, this could involve firefighters who can't switch to what ESFRS is calling "a service-wide flexible crewing pool", or training, prevention and protection teams. This would alter staffing levels at Battle, Bexhill, Crowborough, Lewes, Newhaven and Uckfield, leading to what the service believes could be "slightly longer" call-outs during weekend daytimes. However, other proposals include increasing the core number of fire appliances to 18, from the 15 presently in use. A further main point to the changes is to reduce call-outs to incidents where life is not in danger — especially responses to automatic alarms in empty buildings, lift-rescues, and birds trapped in netting. Leading officers said avoiding some of these "unnecessary mobilisations" will allow ESFRS staff to increase background work to prevent fires. A report presented to East Sussex's Fire Authority admitted these proposals should also bring financial savings in their first four years of between £0.7m and £3.6m. The plans have brought a tide of opposition, most recently in an on-line petition organised by Mark Brown, the secretary of the East Sussex branch of the Fire Brigades' Union. He said: "These proposals are extremely dangerous! They will impact heavily on a critical lifesaving service. They will negatively impact public safety as well as firefighter safety and will also impede firefighters' ability to rescue and assist members of the public." Feedback from the public consultation, to be concluded by June 19th, is expected to be presented in September. More Radio is continuously dedicated to providing a quality news service on-air and online, reporting local stories that matter across Sussex. If you found this story useful, then check out our home page at moreradio.online where you can find the latest from the county, along with features and competitions from our presenters, as well as listening to the station live. You can also sign up to our news alerts to receive updates on new stories. Simply click on the bell at the bottom right of the home page. This will then allow a pop-up which will ask if you would like to receive alerts. Press ‘allow’ and you’re all signed up! You can also follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.