Morale 'rock bottom' at rural fire station

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service was criticised by councillors and inspectors

Firefighters' morale is at "rock bottom" at a rural Cornwall fire station, councillors have been told.

Councillor Brian Clemens said that a policy of removing managers at small on-call stations had made a massive difference at his local station in St Just, west Cornwall.

It came as Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service was criticised by councillors and inspectors for its performance in several areas.

The service was rated as "inadequate" in one area and "requires improvement" in six areas by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) in September.

Criticism 'unfair'

Mr Clemens told the neighbourhoods scrutiny committee: "I know in my station morale is rock bottom and I’ve actually had a watch manager ring me on Friday night saying, 'Sorry, we can’t man the pump tonight'.

"That never happens in St Just; very, very rarely.

"We will be in a state in St Just in the next two years where we won’t have a fire crew."

Criticism of the service is a "little unfair", chief fire officer Kathryn Billing told the committee.

She denied that the service was in a “managed decline” and said that there had been significant investment and improvement in some areas, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

However, some councillors on the committee expressed their concerns and dissatisfaction with the service’s performance, especially in relation to the response times to fires.

Councillor Rob Nolan said that the service was only "adequate" in this area, despite setting its own target in 2020 and adjusting the times to reflect the difficulty of getting on-call firefighters into position quickly.

He said that this was not acceptable and that the service needed to move away from "adequate" to "genuinely good".

The service has sent an action plan to address the issues to the HMICFRS for approval.

The council’s neighbourhoods scrutiny committee deferred the matter for further discussion in January.