The Isle of Wight Council’s Scrutiny Committee say that a decision on major changes to the Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service should be deferred for at least 6 weeks until an inspectorate report is made available.
Last night (Tuesday) the committee came together to discuss controversial plans to alter the way in which firefighters operate on the Isle of Wight, namely shift patterns, the availability of crews at Newport and Ryde and the number of riders on an appliance.
The Isle of Wight Council – the current fire authority – want to ensure that more than 1 fire appliance is available at peak times by changing the way Ryde Fire Station operates. Currently, the station is manned Monday to Friday between 09:00 and 17:00 and outside these hours on a call-out basis. Under the proposed changes, Ryde would be manned 12 hours a day, 7 days a week to ensure that at least 2 Island pumps are available at immediate notice at ‘peak times’.
Although Ryde operate on a call-out basis in the evenings and weekends, the strong retained workforce can still turn out an appliance in under 4 minutes and have enough manpower to turn out 3 appliances. If Ryde was to be manned 7 days a week there would still be a reliance on retained firefighters to not only turn out a second appliance during the ‘peak time’, but to turn out any appliances outside of the 12 hour period in which the station is crewed.
After hearing from Councillor Tig Outlaw, 6 councillors voted in favour of recommending to the Isle of Wight Council’s Cabinet that a decision on the plans should be deferred until Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) report is made available. 3 Conservative councillors voted to recommend approval.
Over the past 4 years, the Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service has lost over £1.4million to its budget – but Cllr Outlaw says the plans are not fuelled by cost savings.
It is hoped that the Cabinet will heed the recommendation of the Scrutiny Committee when they meet tomorrow (Thursday) at Ventnor Winter Gardens from 17:00.
