Northumberland 999 changes on the way three years late

Posted by Simon Honeysett on Aug 27, 08 02:14 PM in News

Fire service plans for a ÃÂ£10m shake-up of 999 cover in Northumberland are finally to go ahead - three years after being approved amid a storm of controversy.

Work is expected to start early next year on the PFI-funded modernisation, which involves the closure of fire stations in Blyth, Cramlington, Morpeth and Ashington and the loss of about 28 full-time firefighter posts.

The four operational stations will be replaced with two new ones at Pegswood and West Hartford, with a fire safety academy developed on the Blyth site.

The stated aims of the reforms are to improve the efficiency of the fire and rescue service - switching the emphasis from the traditional role of putting out fires to tackling issues such as education and prevention, serious road accidents and floods.

They were approved by the county council in March 2006, despite huge opposition from the Fire Brigades' Union, two local Labour MPs, Wansbeck and Blyth Valley Councils and a 20,000-name protest petition.

Since then a new county authority has been voted in, but next week councillors will be recommended to grant detailed planning approval for the design of the bases at Pegswood and West Hartford.

The new administrative headquarters for the fire and rescue service is now proposed at West Hartford, rather than Pegswood as originally planned. The new fire stations will each have two full-time and one retained appliance, and 71 firefighters.

When the shake-up was originally approved, the FBU and other critics said 999 response times would be hit and lives put at risk by closing the four town-based fire stations and replacing them with two new ones.

But fire chiefs said change was needed as people in Northumberland were 17 times more likely to die in a road crash than a fire, and 70 times more likely to be rescued from a crash than a fire.

Statistics show county firefighters rescue an average three or four people from fires in a year, but almost 80 from crashes.

Yesterday Northumberland FBU brigade secretary Colin James said: "As far as we are concerned, this decision was taken some time ago and we made our case at the time.

"There is nothing that can be done about it now, but 30 full-time posts will go and it reflects the ever-increasing workload across public services with fewer resources.

"It is still an issue of concern to us and there are probably people out there who feel the same. The priority now is on prevention, but that doesn't mean you don't still need an emergency response capacity.

"The county council is under further financial pressure now and I certainly hope there are no further cuts around the corner in the fire service."

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