A RADICAL shake-up of the fire service which would replace two stations in Bolton with just one and cut fire engines has sparked widespread concern and anger. SAIQA CHAUDHARI reports.

MAYOR of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has put forward controversial plans to cut the Greater Manchester Fire Service to save £12.8 million.

It could mean closing Bolton’s two fire stations and replacing them with a new one, while cutting the number of fire engines.

One firefighter has spoken out to voice his fears that the proposals will cut the service “to the bone”.

Speaking anonymously to The Bolton News, he said: “Fire engines in Bolton will be cut from three to two and a fire station closed — and that is being dressed up as creating a modern fire service.”

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) say the cuts are on the way as incidents increase.

According to their statistics, in 2017/18 Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service accidental dwelling fires increased by 2.77 per cent. Non-fire incidents saw a 19 per cent increase of the overall total incidents attended.

Brigade statistics show that deliberate fires were up overall by four per cent from 2016/2017 to 2017/2018. There were 1,056 deliberate fires in Bolton during 2017/18. Only Wigan and Salford had more outside of Manchester Overall all incidents — fires, false alarms and special service calls — attended by the brigade were down by 4.5 per cent during that period in which Bolton had 3,466 incidents and only Wigan had more outside of Manchester.

There were 197 accidental dwelling fires in Bolton, the highest outside Manchester and 744 special service calls, such as road traffic collisions, the highest outside of Manchester.

Under the proposals entitled Programme for Change, Bolton North Fire Station and Bolton Central Fire Station would close and a new one built.

Staffing levels will be cut to four firefighters on all engines. Under the current system there are often five crew members on the first engine to arrive at an incident.

A campaign is now under way to prevent the cuts to the service.

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A petition has already attracted 10,624 signatures and Sir David Crausby, MP for Bolton North East is opposing the cuts.

There are fears that lives will be put at risk under the latest round of swingeing cuts — with Fire Brigades Union (FBU) saying the move poses a safety risk.

Speaking at this week’s Workers’ Memorial Day, Jonathan Cooper, Unison member in the fire service said: “I would like to talk about my colleagues at the FBU. They have lost, or you have lost, 700 firefighters since 2010, that’s shocking, if these cuts go ahead people are going to end up dying.”

The anonymous firefighter said the cuts would spread resources even more thinly as the fire service faces growing new pressures, such as moorland fires.

He said: “Fire stations in Bolton are one of the busiest in the whole of Greater Manchester. They are talking about about one new fire station, but what is the point of a new station which does not have any resources? Fire stations should be placed at different locations so crews can get to incidents quickly.

“Resources have already been cut over the past 10 years in Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service with fire engines and specialist appliances cut. The number of firefighters on many stations has been cut from 11 to five.

“Now there will be four firefighters on a fire engine. This means the officer in charge of the incident will have to do the job of the fifth crew member when they should be co-ordinating the incident — get the water and check the building from the outside.”

Under previous cuts, stand-by crews — which are mobilised to fire stations if crews based there are out for more than 20 minutes — are not placed in all stations. That means firefighters from other parts of the region have to travel if an incident occurs.

The firefighter added: “Crompton Way Fire Station is strategically located. They say the extra time added to times will be ten seconds, but that is the average across Greater Manchester. We should be told how much longer it will now take crews to different postcodes.

“Bolton North is one of the busiest one-pump fire stations and Bolton Central is one of the busiest two-pump fire stations.”

Another firefighter said the cuts will “deliver a slower response” time, making the public and the firefighters “less safe”.

Gary Keary secretary of the North West Fire Brigades Union (FBU), said: “The FBU are very frustrated that they were not engaged with in a meaningful way through the Mayor’s Fire Cover Review, a review which led to the development of the Programme for Change Business Case. Our service had been decimated in recent years, this latest round of cuts will see firefighter numbers in Greater Manchester cut from 2,200, 10 years ago to just over 1,000.

“We will also see a reduction in the number of fire engines available and the closure of six stations, with a proposal to replace with three new-build stations.

“Of utmost concern to the FBU is the fact that these cuts will extend our response times and also reduce the number of firefighters on appliances, we believe both of these factors will increase significantly the risk to firefighters and the communities we serve.

“The FBU calls upon the Mayor to rethink these proposals and to put safety before money.”

David Crausby, Bolton North East MP, said: “Public safety should be the top priority of any Government. The huge fires across our moorland last year and the terrible loss of life in London at Grenfell show the importance of firefighters when the worst happens.

“However, this Government have decided to take tax payers money out of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue.”

“I am confident that the Mayor and the Chief Fire Officer are focused on minimising any impact on attendance times, but the fact remains that there will be a reduction in service due to the reduced budget.

“It’s also important to remember that this is a service that works though the consent of the public. They should be part of our community to build trust, working with local people to identify problems and helping to tackle the causes of fires.

“I want the public to engage with the consultation and express any concerns about the changes and I want the Government to recognise that constantly asking public services to do more with less is unsustainable.”