Crisis talks as Portsmouth residents are 'in danger' over Hampshire Fire and Rescue crew levels

City officials demanded an 'urgent' audience with the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service after it was claimed there are not enough crew members to operate all its vehicles in Portsmouth - as well as incidents where engines were dispatched elsewhere to meet demand.

It comes as Southsea Fire Station was one of the 'worst hit' by county-wide cuts that were first mooted in 2016 - now leaving them with 64 crew members, compared to 80 four years ago.

During a passionate debate this week Portsmouth councillors unanimously agreed to meet with the service to tackle the problems.

Speaking to his peers councillor and MP Stephen Morgan said: 'This is simply not good enough and cuts have consequences. It puts community members in danger and it puts our fire officers at risk.

'On the 11th, 19th, 20th and 21st of August fire engines were taken from Portsmouth and sent to other locations across the country. What if a major incident had broken out in Portsmouth that evening?

'People in our community were left vulnerable.

'There is no doubt that our fire service is capable but it's a fact they are being asked to do more with less.'

Mark Chapman, chairman of the Hampshire Fire Brigades Union (FBU), said the reduction of 16 crew members in Southsea meant vehicles are now manned by the minimum of four crew members at a time - down from five. And at other times vehicles in the county are taken off run due to lack of staff.

He said: 'We believed the number of firefighters we have in the county was not enough for the response required and we are now seeing evidence of this. The fire service is about the weight of the attack, the number of firefighters we can throw at an incident.

'It really came to our attention in the last couple of months. Usually when an engine is taken off the run it's for a matter of hours. There was one case in August where an engine was taken off for 24 hours.'

There were also concerns about the increase in high rise buildings in Portsmouth.

'With the way its skyline is going up and up we attend a lot of incidents in high rise buildings,' Mr Chapman said.

'Previously we would have three engines from Southsea and two from Cosham to deal with it. What we are seeing now with the reduction at Southsea is we have to rely on crews from places like Havant, Waterlooville and Portchester.

'That means there's a longer period of time where they're coming in. That can make a huge difference in a trade where we say every second counts.'

Secretary of the Hampshire FBU and firefighter of 35 years, Gary Jackson, agreed. He said the 2016 review into the reduction of crew members did not take into account training days required, staff sickness and holiday time. He said: 'The cracks really started to show this summer.

'The only way we can make up the shortfall is by offering overtime but we haven't got the resources to keep doing that. Firefighters already work hard enough on the hours they do.'

He added that the Covid-19 pandemic actually meant they had more on-call crew available as they were furloughed from their other jobs. 'We don't know how this will be in a second spike though as there isn't the offer of furlough,' he said.

The Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service declined to comment and said they 'will be responding to the council directly.'

REDUCTIONS to fire crews in Portsmouth began with a review of the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service in 2016.

Project Risk Review looked at ways to save around £4.1m from the service by cutting staff numbers, as well as making changes to vehicles used - after a cut in government funding led to a £12m deficit.

Over the 51 stations in Hampshire it was planned the number of full-time firefighters would fall from 576 to 516 and retained crew would drop to 507 from 656.

In Portsmouth this resulted in 16 less crew members working from Southsea station over a period of three years.

Changes to vehicles used were trialled across the county - using a three vehicle system. This meant a large, medium and smaller vehicle would be used from each station.

But following the trial it was decided that stations would revert to the old system of two large vehicles.

Cosham Fire Station did not lose any crew numbers.

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