Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service hits back at claims lives are 'in danger' in Portsmouth

The chief fire officer for Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service has hit back at claims made by Portsmouth City Council and the Hampshire Fire Brigade Union last month, when calls were made for crisis talks.

It was alleged there are not enough crew members to operate all fire vehicles in Portsmouth - and there had been incidents where engines were dispatched elsewhere to meet demand.

But in a letter from chief fire officer Neil Odin to the city council, he said: ‘I am satisfied that Portsmouth enjoys the fastest response times in the county and this has not deteriorated over the previous years.

‘There are no crewing shortfalls. Any permanent vacancies are either filled with new firefighters from our recruitment campaign or are temporarily filled using fixed term contracts while we await the latest recruitment intake.

‘Short notice gaps in crewing are not caused by establishment deficiencies but are often linked to short notice sickness absence.

He added: ‘Like all stations, firefighters from Portsmouth and Southampton are sometimes used to backfill short notice gaps in other locations.

‘These moves have never changed the availability of the major front line fire appliances in Portsmouth and are only done to balance availability of resources across the county.’

SEE ALSO: Cuts to fire service numbers must be reversed, union warns

A Portsmouth council debate on the matter in October drew attention to the fact Southsea fire dtation saw a reduction in crew members of 80 to 64, since cuts were first announced in 2016.

Secretary of the Hampshire FBU and firefighter of 35 years, Gary Jackson, said more government funding was urgently needed - in line with the national FBU’s recent Fund the Frontline campaign.

Mr Jackson, said: ‘We don't want to end up in the same position as the police where the government recently announced they were taking on 20,000 more but this only replaced the numbers that were lost. We feel as experienced firefighters that we are right up to that line.

‘It can't possibly be effective to take firefighters and an appliance off the run and take it across a county just to keep it running. These things didn't used to happen.

‘We are just asking for more funding from government. We believe it is a worthwhile investment. Now a lot of the onus for funding comes from local authorities that are going to have less and less funds through the pandemic.'

As reported, there has been a reduction of 198 Hampshire firefighters in the past decade.

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