Major changes on way for East Sussex fire service

At a virtual meeting on Thursday (April 23), the East Sussex Fire Authority is set to consider whether to launch a public consultation on proposals to reconfigure how the fire service operates.

The proposals, known as the service’s Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP), include significant changes to the way firefighters are deployed in the county, what resources are available and the type of calls the service will attend.

In a draft version of the proposals, a spokesman for the fire authority said: “We want to make sure we put our resources in the right place, at the right time to deal with emergencies and help prevent them in the first place through engagement and regulation.  

“This plan sets out how we will do this.

“At the heart of these plans is a robust and detailed operational response review.

“Through this process, we have assessed our community risks, using a range of sophisticated analytical tools to identify where incidents such as fires or flooding might happen, when they might occur and how serious they could be. 

“This allows us to target our resources, including firefighters and fire engines, most effectively, bringing about a better balance of prevention, protection and response.”

When taken together the proposals would see major changes for the fire service’s workforce, which is made up of both wholetime and on-call firefighters.

Wholetime firefighters are employed by the fire service full-time, whereas on-call firefighters only work when called on to attend an emergency and often have a day job outside of the fire service as well.

The largest change would come for East Sussex Fire and Rescue Sevice’s (ESFRS) day-crewed fire stations: Battle, Bexhill, Crowborough, Lewes, Newhaven, and Uckfield.

Currently, these services are staffed by two watches of six wholetime firefighters, who cover an average of 42 daytime hours per week and remain on-call during the evening.

Under the proposals, however, the wholetime firefighters would only work during the daytime Monday to Friday, with on-call firefighters providing cover in the evening and at weekends. 

This would come alongside the introduction of new contracts for on-call (rather than full-time) firefighters, in order to enhance their availability.

While these stations would continue to have 24/7 coverage, the fire service says, these proposals could also see slower response times to incidents and weekends.

Depending on what form it takes, these proposals would result in the loss of between 27 and 33 firefighter posts.

These firefighters could be redeployed to a new “flexible crewing pool” which would operate across the county, the fire service says.

The same proposals would see the Ridge fire station in Hastings cease to be a wholetime fire station (meaning it would no longer be staffed only by full-time firefighters working on site).

This would leave ESFRS with five wholetime fire stations: Bohemia Road in Hastings, Eastbourne, Hove, Preston Circus and Roedean. These stations could also see changes to to the way they are staffed.

Currently each of these stations operates what is known as a four-watch system, where a firefighter works two day shifts, followed by two night shifts, then has four days off duty.

The fire service proposes to introduce an alternative model known as the flexible rostering duty system, in which a single, larger team of firefighters  at each station would plan out shifts on a monthly basis.

Alternatively, the service would introduce a “group crewing” system at Preston Circus, Hove and Roedean, with Eastbourne and Bohemia Road to remain under the four watch system.

Either proposal, if approved, could result in the loss of five firefighter posts, with staff either redeployed or made redundant, the fire service says.

Other proposed changes would see second fire engines removed from Battle, Bexhill, Crowborough, Lewes, Newhaven, Rye and Uckfield fire stations.  Each of the service’s 24 stations would have at least one fire engine.

Bohemia Road fire station in Hastings, meanwhile, would gain an additional fire engine. 

This proposal, the fire service says, would ensure a more efficient use of resources and reduce costs.

If a second fire engine was required at an incident it would come from a different fire station, ESFRS says.

Other proposals could see the fire service change which non-emergency incidents it attends, in an effort to better use its resources.

In draft documents set to go out for consultation, a fire service spokesman said: “We already work alongside animal charities to reduce the number of calls we receive about birds trapped in netting.

“However, we continue to attend a small number. These calls tie-up our resources for a period of time and restrict our ability to attend incidents involving risk to human lives. 

“It is often necessary to use aerial ladder platforms and other specialist equipment, making this service disproportionately expensive. 

“Therefore, we are proposing that we should no longer attend calls to birds trapped in netting in the future.”

The fire service also proposes it would delay calls where people, who are not vulnerable or in distress, are trapped in lifts, to “give the building owners time to resolve the issue themselves.”

It says it would work with businesses to put alternative lift rescue arrangements in place, as well.

It is also proposed that the fire service would no longer automatically attend calls to fire alarms operating in low risk commercial premises.

In the long term the fire service could start charging a fee for attending unwanted fire signals in some premises types in some circumstances. This would be subject to a separate public consultation in due course, however.

If approved by the East Sussex Fire Authority the document would be expected to be published for consultation on April 24.