By Ursula Duddy
Derry firefighters said this weekend that they were 'disgusted' and 'afraid lives will be lost', particularly in the event of a high-rise fire, if cutbacks in both the city’s fire stations go ahead.
The local firefighters, who did not wish to be named, spoke out after the announcement last Tuesday that the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) will no longer have a dedicated fire crew to operate the specialist equipment at the Northland Road Fire Station.
Firefighters will now be responsible for attending an additional fire engine at the same time as manning an Aerial Ladder Platform (ALP) fire engine at Northland Road fire station.
This means a crew is not guaranteed to be available to operate the ALP in the event of an emergency.
In addition, the other fire station in the city, Crescent Link, will have the number of firefighters who crew a specialist rescue appliance reduced from four to two. This is so that they can be sent to cover other under-resourced fire stations.
Altnagelvin
In 2012, almost 50 firefighters in 11 appliances were called to tackle a high-rise blaze in Altnagelvin Hospital where five floors of the building had to be evacuated. Among the 11 appliances from Derry's two fire stations and Strabane was a specialist unit carrying aerial equipment.
Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service Group Commander, Edward Carroll, had termed the response to the 2012 hospital fire as a ‘large scale operation’.
He had commented at the time: "It is classed as a high-rise fire and that presents a number of challenges.”
Earlier this year, it was announced that Altnagelvin Hospital was set to undergo an assessment of its fire safety precautions following the Grenfell Tower fire in London.
Derry firefighters said they fear these latest cuts will be disastrous should another high-rise fire break out in one of Derry’s taller buildings again. They also said the cutbacks will lead to call-out delays.
Staffing levels
“The cuts mean the only appliance in Derry used to tackle tall building fires no longer has a specialist crew,” they said.
“Bearing in mind this appliance covers; 10-storey Altnagelvin Hospital, City Hotel, the Embassy building, numerous accommodation properties that have more than three floors and all the business properties in the city.”
At Northland Road Station, the current staffing level is at nine instead of the recommended 11. While the Crescent Link station now has seven fire fighters on shift, instead of the recommended nine personnel.
The Derry firefighters continued: “That is a total of 16 full-time firefighters to cover a city with a population within the council boundary of over 149,000, alongside having to cover the aerial appliance which provides from Coleraine in the north to Enniskillen in the south and from Cookstown in the east to well into Donegal, a massive geographical area.
“Firefighters are both disgusted and afraid by the measures that came into effect on Tuesday. The North West is the only area in Northern Ireland to have staff cuts; once again North West gets the raw deal.
“James Quinn from the FBU, who is a fire fighter himself - a group of people who don't scare easily, said he felt terrified.
“He believes decisions being made by bean counters are making our jobs harder and he has said he fears for the lives of the public and firefighters in Derry.
“What are our local elected representatives going to do about these shameful cuts to what is a very essential lifesaving service?”
'Lives could be lost'
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has warned that the Derry firefighters are being spread too thin, which is a move that could prove fatal.
Jim Quinn, executive council member for Northern Ireland at the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), said: “We are deeply concerned that this move could have devastating consequences for the safety of the public; we know that there are even more cuts planned in the near future that will all make us all less safe.
“If an ALP is needed urgently to perform a high rise rescue and the formerly dedicated crew are responding to another emergency on a different fire engine, then clearly the high rise rescue is going to be delayed. Lives could be lost as a result and there will be more damage to homes, businesses, schools, communities, the economy and the environment.
“NIFRS is one of the best fire services in terms of performance and value for money in the United Kingdom despite being a stand-alone fire and rescue service.”
Mr Quinn added: “These cuts are not linked to any change in the risk faced by firefighters or the public they serve. This is a purely financially driven decision following budget cuts to NIFRS by the Department of Health.”
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