Cornwall Fire & Rescue Service Newsdesk

at 01/06/2

Members of the Community Policy Development and Scrutiny Committee met today to discuss the draft Fire Brigade Service Plan 2007 / 2010. In a recorded vote members recommended that the Fire Brigade Service Plan 2007 / 2010 be recommended to Full Council for approval.

Fire and Rescue Authorities have been required by the Government to produce an annual Service Plan (Integrated Risk Management Plan) since 2003. The aim of the plan is to ensure the service uses its resources effectively to deal with risk to life.

This year Cornwall County Fire Brigade is proposing 41 objectives - 33 relating to legislation or the Fire Service National Framework and 8 initiated by Cornwall County Council. 11 of these objectives have the potential to affect how the service is delivered. The target budget is taken into account when drafting the objectives.

“One of the objectives included in the plan is changing the emergency cover provision at Falmouth and Camborne Fire Stations. Firefighters would no longer be on station twenty-four hours a day. Full time firefighters would be at the station during the day and at night time retained firefighters would provide the emergency cover” said Chief Fire Officer Matt Littmoden
He cont: “I have had to recommend this objective because I had to make savings. The downgrading of Falmouth and Camborne is purely a consequence of the budget and it is the least worst option”

Councillor Ken Yeo, Executive Member for Public Protection explained:
“The recommendation to downgrade Falmouth and Camborne fire stations, given the budgetary situation, is the only way the shortfall can be met”

“Risk is of course taken into account when considering any of the options. Other possible options being to change two existing day crewed stations to fully retained or closing a considerable number of retained. These options increase the risks to a greater extent than the proposed changes at Falmouth and Camborne”

Statistics show that emergency call profiles between the two twenty-four hour stations and other stations that are already day-crewed; Penzance, Truro, St Austell, Newquay and Bodmin are not materially different.

A full public consultation process took place between January and April this year. The results of the consultation were presented to members of the Integrated Risk Management and Service Improvement Planning Single Issue Panel in April. They recommended the Fire Brigade Service Plan to Community Policy Development Scrutiny Committee today.

The final decision will be made by the County Council on 19 June 2007.
Following this Cornwall County Fire Brigade’s Service Plan 2007 / 2008 will be published.