Fire union protest over cuts to crew numbers

Member of the Fire Brigades Union protested ahead of a meeting with the fire authority

Plans to cut the size of emergency response crews are "dangerous and unacceptable", the Fire Brigades Union's general secretary has said.

Matt Wrack was speaking ahead of a meeting which was due to discuss the reductions.

The union said proposals to send a crew of three firefighters to non-life threatening incidents should be withdrawn as a team of at least five is needed.

A Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS) representative said the plan "clearly states" frontline fire engines with three firefighters would not be sent to "life-risk" incidents.

Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said the plans were "dangerous"

Mr Wrack said the union had not had "any thorough discussions" with the Chief Fire Officer or the Fire Authority on the matter.

He said the proposal were "cutting corners, cutting safety and ignoring policy and procedures".

"We're being very clear, not just in Merseyside but for firefighters across the UK, that putting three firefighters on a fire engine is unsafe and unprofessional and we will not accept it."

At the meeting, the vote on the proposals was put back to a later date.

The MFRS representative said it was "misleading" to suggest the service intended to respond to house fires and other such life-risk incidents with three firefighters.

"This is absolutely not the case," the representative said.

"Our plan clearly states that we will not send frontline fire engines with three firefighters to life risk incidents.

Adding, the proposal protects the "life risk" response as it avoids sending a frontline fire engine with four or five firefighters from a neighbouring area to deal with a low-level incident, which would in turn leave those areas without a frontline fire engine to respond a "life-risk" incident.