The County Council election matters for West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service

These elections are about local services

They are not about national issues

There are those who will try to persuade you that voting for their Political Party's candidates will change what is happening in Westminster and Downing Street. It won't, but it will determine not only who is running our fire & rescue service for the next two years, but how it will be set up to cover the whole of Sussex in the years to follow.  

On May 7th we will have the chance to vote for those candidates we trust to support our fire & rescue service, and will work to keep us all safe. It is very clear that the Conservatives have, since 2010, let our fire & rescue service deteriorate to the sorry state it is in today. 

We need County Councillors who will run 

West Sussex County Council properly 

So, who should we vote for?

Well, I see no possibility of Conservative candidates undoing the damage their party has done to our fire & rescue service. Damage that has resulted in substantially longer response times, seriously reduced service resilience, and inadequate protection for residents. 

Many county councillors are not seeking re-election, but these are the Conservatives who are. They are also ones who previously voted for cuts to the fire & rescue service, and  don't deserve to be re-elected:

Richard Burrett (Pound Hill)

Michael Cloake (Durrington & Salvington)

Janet Duncton (Petworth)

Jeremy Hunt (Chichester North)

Amanda Jupp (Billingshurst)

Bob Lanzer (Maidenbower & Worth)

Simon Oakley (Chichester East)

Ashvin Patel (Bognor Regis West & Aldwick)

Bryan Turner (Broadwater)

The Conservatives have not supported firefighters or the safety of our communities

Who voted to stop damaging fire & rescue service cuts?

The Labour and Liberal Democrat county councillors voted against the cuts and have shown strong support for our fire & rescue service, so I believe their candidates will continue to fight for improvements to public safety. It is interesting to note that we now have two former county councillors, one Labour and one Liberal Democrat, who supported the fire & rescue service, and are now Members of Parliament.  

These are the county councillors from those parties who are standing and who voted against fire & rescue service cuts. They deserve to be re-elected:

Chris Oxlade (Bewbush & Ifield West)

Robin Rogers (Worthing West)

James Walsh (Littlehampton East)

Labour and Liberal Democrat county councillors support our fire & rescue service

Candidates from other political parties

Past conversations with Green Party members indicate that they understand the dangers posed by an inadequately resourced fire & rescue service, so I believe that their candidates will support the service. If they are the candidate in your area that is most likely to keep a Conservative from being elected, it may well be worth lending the Green Party your vote.

Now what about Reform candidates? Well, the only Reform county councillors on West Sussex County Council, who were elected as Conservatives and then defected, have done nothing to support our fire & rescue service. Like the party's leadership, who are almost all ex-Conservatives, I only see hard line Conservative policies under a new label. That will inevitably result in more cuts to the fire & rescue service, and even worse attacks on firefighter pay and conditions.

Since the election was announced, I have only heard from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, and Reform. I know there are a Green Party and a Labour candidate standing locally, but I suspect their efforts are focussed on other areas. However, the contact I have received so far is quite revealing.

Reform being unwilling to name their candidate in their leaflets, or tell me anything about them, and their failure to mention anything about West Sussex County Council is quite disturbing. It indicates that they don't understand the problems at the council, which means they won't have any solutions. It also shows they have no real interest in what happens to our fire & rescue service. 

Not telling voters who their candidate is suggests that they would rather we didn't know about their candidate's past, their views, their ability, or perhaps the lack of it. 

Who you choose to vote for is entirely a matter for you, but if you want an effective fire & rescue service, I would urge you to choose someone who has the best chance of defeating the Conservative and Reform candidates. 

That may mean not voting for your usual choice or may mean voting differently to how you would vote in a General Election, but getting the right candidates elected has never been more important for our fire & rescue service.

Support the future of our fire & rescue service by choosing your County Councillor wisely on May 7

Conservative County Councillors put West Sussex residents in greater danger

Longer waits for less effective response

When your life or property is in danger, you may wonder why help is taking longer to arrive. The simple answer is that firefighters are coming as quickly as possible but are now increasingly likely to be coming from further away.

When they arrive, you may also wonder why they take longer to carry out rescues and firefighting. The answer is that, instead of five or six firefighters on a fire engine, there will now usually be just four. When a minimum of five firefighters are required to safely and effectively deal with most incidents, and building fires need at least nine firefighters, more time is lost waiting for back up crews from fire stations even further away.  

None of this is the fault of firefighters, so who is to blame?

The answer is simple, Conservative County Councillors.

Population and incidents up, resources down

Since 1975, the County’s population has increased by nearly 40%, and the fire & rescue service is attending over 50% more incidents each year. Yet the Conservatives have made significant cuts to our fire & rescue service, leaving it slower and less effective. They went ahead with cuts even though their modelling said there would be increased loss of life and increased property damage as a result.

Since 2010, the Conservatives have:

Closed 4 fire stations

Cut a quarter of frontline fire engines &

now provide 231 fewer firefighters (a third less)

 Inadequate crewing can see up to three quarters of frontline fire engines unavailable

You may feel reassured when you see a fire engine in your nearest fire station, but it is useless without firefighters. Too often, when you need help, it will sit idle in the fire station because Conservative County Councillors don’t ensure there are enough firefighters available to crew it.

There are now only 35 frontline fire engines in West Sussex, there were 46, and during the day up to two thirds may not be available. At night, three quarters of the County’s fire engines depend on retained (on call) firefighters who are not always available.

Assets worth up to £10 million can sit idle during emergencies for lack of firefighters

Specialist rescue only available during the day

The Conservatives have also stopped providing 24 hour availability of the Technical Rescue Unit. This specialist team have additional training to carry out rescues from the most extreme situations, but they are now only available from 7 am to 7 pm. Conservative County Councillors will tell you that neighbouring fire & rescue services will come to your aid at night, but they don’t specify how far they will need to travel and how much longer your life will be in danger.

Conservatives are neglecting those in extreme danger at night

Who to vote for on May 7th

It is important not to be distracted by national government performance and national issues, as the only election that matters for anyone concerned about having an effective fire & rescue service is the County Council election. In my experience, how politicians have performed is usually a good indication of how they will perform in future. 

So, it will be no surprise that I think the Conservatives have failed the residents of West Sussex, so who has not?

Both Labour and Liberal Democrat County Councillors have campaigned to stop the Conservative fire & rescue service cuts and have worked hard to highlight the disastrous consequences of those cuts. Sadly, the response from the Conservatives has simply been to withhold information, including unlawful refusals of freedom of information requests, to cut performance standards to hide the consequences of their cuts and mismanagement, and to make false claims. Cuts are not 'improvements'.

Only Labour & Liberal Democrat County Councillors have campaigned to save our fire & rescue service and to support our firefighters

Fire & Rescue Service "unaware" of vital safety information

Council's answer to safety question raises more concerns

The answer, given in response to a written question at last week's meeting of West Sussex County Council, is very concerning. The question was about firefighters, who are not fully trained, being sent to emergency calls. Something I posted about in February after being alerted to the problem by serving firefighters.

By referring to what should happen, the answer implies that it doesn't happen, but there is no absolute assurance that it never happens. The claim that every crew sent to West Sussex fires meet the core requirements for breathing apparatus (BA) is also misleading. 

To safely deploy breathing apparatus you need at least a crew of five - an officer in charge, driver/pump operator, two BA wearers, and a BA entry control officer. 

West Sussex County Council has cut standard crewing from 5 to 4. 

A crew of four has no one for BA entry control, so it can't be BA compliant.

For full deployment, to search for victims or for internal firefighting, at least nine firefighters are required. With inadequate standard crewing, that can result in deployment having to wait until three fire engines have arrived, often from three different towns.

Shocking admission that they are unaware of Health & Safety Executive (HSE) rulings

The claim, that no one in West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service knows about HSE action taken after failings in other fire & rescue services, is really disturbing. Understanding action taken by the HSE, often after fatalities in other fire & rescue services, is crucial to ensuring those failings are not repeated here. Prosecutions, enforcement action, and guidance from the HSE are essential wake up calls to all fire & rescue services. 

In the reply they use the word 'recent', which is worrying. Why put a time limit on the extent of their knowledge? Some of the lessons that underpin modern breathing apparatus procedures were learnt, after fatalities, over 70 years ago. The ones mentioned in the question are from less than 30 years ago.

The National Fire Chiefs Council has already tried to water down breathing apparatus safety procedures at high rise building fires. Not because they are unimportant, but because they were seen as inconvenient. So you have to wonder if this is less about being unaware, and more a case of convenient amnesia.

Knowledge and understanding of the circumstances surrounding every fire & rescue service failure, which contributed to the death of a member of the public or a firefighter, is vital in avoiding future tragedies. Lessons learnt the hard way must never be forgotten. 

If those responsible for today's procedures are unaware of previous tragic incidents, then they may water down or abandon measures introduced to prevent further tragedies. For their own protection, all firefighters also need to be aware. Understanding what triggered current procedures is essential to ensuring that they are not ignored.    

This claimed lack of knowledge, if true, indicates serious training omissions.  

The claim they don't put personnel at risk

They claim that they don't place personnel in a position where they are expected to act outside their competence. Not expecting it is not the same as ensuring it doesn't happen. They know very well that inadequate crewing often places personnel in a position where a moral imperative and peer pressure will result in some acting outside their competence or outside safe procedures. Firefighters want to save lives and property, so a lack of resources will inevitably tempt them to take shortcuts.  The HSE understands the moral pressure on firefighters to act, why does WSFRS not understand?

WSFRS task analysis shows that for most incident types you need at least a crew of 5. A crew of 4 is less safe and less effective.

Refusal to provide training information

Astonishingly, they also refused to provide councillors with a training breakdown, claiming there is no training backlog. Yet shortages of personnel who are competent to drive, act as officer in charge, or to wear breathing apparatus are often reported to councillors on the scrutiny committee as reasons for fire engines not being available! 

It is ludicrous to claim that there are no personnel waiting to qualify or re-qualify.

Conservative Cabinet Member's hypocrisy and deception

At Friday's County Council meeting, Cabinet Member Jeremy Hunt suggested that Chichester's MP, Jess Brown-Fuller, was "scaremongering" by referring to the council overspending, selling community assets and reducing essential local services. Yet all that is accurate. Incredibly, he then went on to confirm that there is an overspend! It appears he thinks that, because the overspend was not hidden, the MP should not mention it.

Conservative County Councillor Jeremy Hunt

Rather desperately he claimed that criticism of decisions, made by the council's Cabinet, is disrespectful to hard working council staff. Sadly, it has been a regular Conservative ploy to suggest that any criticism of them is criticism of staff, which of course it is not. 

He is disgruntled because Chichester's MP is very good at seeking out the truth by talking to those at the sharp end, instead of just listening to the spin from those determined to hide the truth. She recently highlighted the County Council's poor record of replacing older and less reliable fire engines and equipment. 

After it was publicised, the County Council suddenly found the money for 12 replacement fire engines.

False Conservative Claims

Jeremy Hunt has even had the arrogance to claim in his election leaflet that 'only the Conservatives can "successfully run the County Council". If he means run it into the ground, I might agree with him.

He also dishonestly claims that "only the Conservatives will protect Fire Stations." He and his Conservative colleagues have already closed four fire stations, cut a quarter of the county's fire engines, and with over 200 fewer firefighters are failing to crew those that remain.

Just look at what the Conservatives have done in the Chichester District Council area, with nearly 130,000 residents and 800 square kilometres to protect:

• One fire station closed
• Frontline fire engines cut from 9 to 6
• & only one of those fire engines is always crewed

Mr Hunt is probably not bothered, as that always crewed fire engine is the nearest to his Chichester home.

However, he should be more concerned, as it is not always there.

It is often away dealing with emergencies in other areas.