Campaigners have slammed a decision to remove ten firefighters and a height appliance from an Edinburgh station - saying it will hit response times and safety.
Fire Brigade Union chiefs say the decision follows an ongoing trend of funding cuts from the Scottish Government and they are concerned about the impact this will have on the safety of Edinburgh residents and their members.
They say that the removal of the 10 firefighters and height appliance is due to take place by September 4 2023.
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The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) have confirmed that the number of firefighters at Crewe Toll Fire Station will reduce from 55 to 45 after September. But they pledge to uphold a policy of "no compulsory redundancies."
They say that like a number of public services, the SFRS is operating in a "challenging financial climate" and they have been tasked with making £11million in savings in 2023 and a projected £36million across the next four years.
A spokesperson for FBU, said: “The FBU is firmly against the proposed cuts to Crewe Toll's high reach appliance. The removal of this resource reduces the availability of Edinburgh's height appliances by a third (from three down to two), increasing response times and decreasing public and firefighter safety.
“In our opinion, the reason for removal is purely down to the insufficient budget allocated for the current fiscal year. The SFRS have had a real term budget cut of £57 million since 2012 and the current allocated budget has led to our Senior Leaders having no other option but to reduce the number of appliances and frontline firefighters.
“This will lead to a reduction in fire cover and follows years of underfunding and real terms cuts, since the formation of the SFRS.
“This will undoubtedly lead to concerns within the community and the wider City of Edinburgh, as it will incur an increased response time for a height appliance to attend within its communities in its time of utmost need.
“In summary, since the formation of the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service, it has lost 1100 firefighters and response times have increased by approximately 14 per cent. Crewe Toll are expected to lose 10 firefighters and the height appliance from their station by September 4 2023.”
The removal of the height appliance has led to a petition being created to fight the decision. Those behind the petition have argued that the removal of the height appliance will mean that north west of Edinburgh will have no local capacity to be able to perform rescues from buildings over four floors.
They argue that the removal of the height appliance will impact ‘public safety.’ They also claim that the removal will mean that the capital, West Lothian and the Borders will have only two remaining height appliances to respond to incidents.
However the SFRS have disputed that the safety of Edinburgh and West Lothian will be impacted by the removal of the appliance. They say that Crewe Toll Fire Station is in close proximity to fire stations at Tollcross and MacDonald Road, where there is a high reach appliance located at each station.
The SFRS add that there is no change to the height appliances at the Tollcross or MacDonald Road stations and that the SFRS always maintains fire cover.
They add that as a national service, the SFRS has capacity and flexibility to operate as a network so that it can place appliances and personnel from stations wherever they may be required. Whilst operations control staff will work to mobilise the closest and most appropriate fire appliance to an incident.
The SFRS have said that the high reach appliance at Crewe Toll Fire Station in Edinburgh will be deployed to Dunfermline Community Fire Station. Whilst the ageing high reach appliance currently stationed at Kirkcaldy Community Fire Station will be removed.
There will be four dedicated height appliances for the East of Scotland. The SFRS say that they are a national Service, and that their "resource and deployment requirements are evidence based and data led.”
Edinburgh will retain two dedicated height appliances and that any requirement for height appliance incident deployment in the East of Scotland would be met through the deployment of national resources mobilised from any of their height appliance stations.
These include two Edinburgh stations as well as Dunfermline and Falkirk who also have dedicated height appliances.
Assistant chief officer David Farries, who is the SFRS director of service delivery, said: “We have reviewed our resources and people to ensure they are best placed to protect communities across Scotland.
“Over the coming months we are reducing our fleet of vehicles that can operate at height on a phased basis from 26 to 16, taking ageing vehicles off the run and redeploying or introducing a series of modern, specialist vehicles dedicated specifically to dealing with such incidents.
“This decision is aligned to our ten-year operational strategy and based on robust data which tells us how busy these appliances are and the types of incidents we attend. These national assets will be strategically placed to provide appropriate coverage.”
Any permanent moves for employees will be in line with SFRS transfer policy and will be done with as minimal impact on individuals as possible.
While any permanent changes to stations and appliances will be made following full engagement and consultation with stakeholders.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Firefighters play a vital role in protecting our communities and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has continued to deliver the high standard of services required to keep Scotland safe. We are providing £368.1 million - an increase of £14.4 million in budget for SFRS this year.
“Operational decisions on the allocation of resources are a matter for the SFRS board and chief officer. In common with all public bodies it is right that SFRS continues to review its operations to ensure it is effective and delivering value for taxpayers money.”
You can view the petition to save the height appliance here.
