Hugh Caffrey, Socialist Party North West region

The disastrous consequences of just one element of cuts and privatisation in the fire service recently hit the news, when a fire crew from Carlisle in Cumbria were instructed to attend an incident near Bolton in Lancashire – a 200 mile round trip!

This cock-up is the latest in a series dismissed by management as ‘teething problems’. It is because fire service control, previously done by local switchboards, has been centralised for the whole north-west into one facility in Warrington, Cheshire.

This is owned by a private company, with rumours circulating about which senior managers may have got their fingers in the pie.

Staffing levels of control operators at the regional facility are a small fraction of the total number previously employed at local centres.

The result is a potentially lethal cocktail of errors; but instead of addressing these fundamental problems, senior management such as Greater Manchester’s chief fire officer Steve McGuirk attempt to sweep them under the carpet.

A firefighter in Greater Manchester told me: “The introduction of North West Fire Control has seen a significant degradation of service.

“The system crashes on a daily basis, crews are given wrong or misleading information and attempts to speak to an operator to clarify information results in an excessive delay.

“Fire Service management have engaged in a strong campaign of propaganda to convince everyone that the system runs fine.

“However, once again, Emperor McGuirk has no clothes on. Everyone knows it. The operators, the firefighters and the management.

“Their own figures state that Regional Control will save £14.94million over 12 years. This averages as a total saving of £311,000 per service, per year.

“The safety of the public and firefighters has been compromised for a saving that will be wiped out by the current wasteful financial mismanagement of the service.”


Firefighters picketing at Bromborough fire station in Merseyside during the 9-16 August round of strikes over pension cuts

Firefighters picketing at Bromborough fire station in Merseyside during the 9-16 August round of strikes over pension cuts   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)


Support Bucks strikers

Buckinghamshire Fire Authority locked out firefighters during the last round of national FBU strike action over pensions on 9-16 August.

The authority barred firefighters from their whole shifts, despite the strike action taking place for two hours from noon then one hour from 11pm.

Messages of protest can be sent to [email protected]. Financial support can be sent to Bucks FBU Hardship Fund, account 71603124, sort code 40-33-33.