A LABOUR election candidate says the Conservatives have “taken their eye off the ball on local services”.
The comments come from Ben Watkins, who will contest the Lichfield Rural North seat when voters head to the polls on 1st May to elect new members of Staffordshire County Council.
He said changes agreed by Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service to reduce crew sizes for on-call firefighters showed that more efforts were needed to underpin key services.
He said:
“Staffordshire’s Fire Service has been cut and cut and cut again.
“Fire crews now often respond with a crew of just three on a fire engine when the recommendation is five.
“This means that if a three-person crew arrives at an incident where there’s a danger to a member of the public – like a house fire – their instructions are to call for more firefighters to drive to the scene.
“Firefighters we’ve spoken to say this puts them in an impossible position. They either go into a house to save lives but break their rules or wait while someone might be in danger for another crew member to come from perhaps miles away.
“The Conservatives presumably think that’s okay – personally, I don’t.”
The reduced crew size was implemented following a trial period, but drew criticism from the Fire Brigades’ Union who said that a three-person crew cannot safely deploy breathing apparatus teams into burning buildings and warned lives could be put at risk.
But speaking back in November, Chief Fire Officer Rob Barber insisted that firefighters are in reduced crews were able to to make key decisions:
“At a road traffic collision, it doesn’t take four or five people to open somebody’s airway, and that will save a life.
“Every one of those on-call firefighters is a highly trained professional that will conduct a dynamic risk assessment. To suggest that they’ll jump off a fire engine and just run into an incident without a care for their safety is completely inaccurate.”
But Mr Watkins said the Conservatives had not done enough to ensure there were enough on-call members of the service to avoid the need to reduce crew sizes.
He said:
“Retained firefighters are the backbone of Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service, but under the policies of the Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner not enough has been done to recruit retained firefighters.
“In short, the Conservatives have simply taken their eye off the ball in Staffordshire, which is just the way they ran the country until last year.”
“Labour would work with the Government to improve standards and provide the high level of service that firefighters want to deliver and the public deserve.
“It’s a shame that this Conservatives seem unable to focus on the things that really matter to people.”
Candidates standing in the Lichfield Rural North division are:
- Richard Holland (Conservatives)
- Morag Maclean (Lib Dem)
- John Madden (Reform)
- Ben Watkins (Labour)
