Firefighters' union worried over reduced crew cover

Steve Wright said the union worries about the impact the changes could have

A firefighters’ union said it is worried a change to the way crews are staffed across Berkshire could lead to longer response times.

The Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service has 14 fire engines available across the county at any time, but the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said that will be cut to 13 on some nights.

Steve Wright, the FBU’s vice-president, said one of two engines in Slough would be removed, weeks after nearly 300 people were evacuated from an apartment block with flammable cladding.

The fire service’s deputy chief fire officer Mark Arkwell said a plan to cut £154,000 “simply means [it] will pay less overtime” to firefighters.

The fire service said it was happy with the cover available

Mr Wright said: "A cut to the frontline response is baffling me and rather alarming following the fire in Slough and the risks that are still present in Slough."

He said firefighters from the town were at the Mosaic Apartments in High Street within four minutes after the fire broke out on 22 August.

Firefighters providing the 14th service would be made up of retained, part-time staff who would need to come from other areas across the county, he added.

While retained firefighters were “doing a fantastic job protecting their communities”, since they are from “more rural areas”, responses would take longer, Mr Wright said.

But Mr Arkwell said: “Our information shows we have more fire engines available at night than during the day, and this simply means we will pay less overtime on some occasions during this period.

“We are reinvesting this saving into more full-time firefighter posts.

“The anticipated savings, go some way to sustainably supporting the cost of the 10 additional firefighting posts, introduced earlier this year.

“These posts should help reduce the occasions our fire engines are unavailable.”