When cutbacks can cost lives

10:23am Friday 8th February 2008

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"FIRE kills..." How many times have we seen those two words describe a fatal incident?

How about: "Fire brigade kills?"

A little over the top, I admit, but I am writing in response to an article in The Press about North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service's plans to try out community safety vehicles (CSV) for small blazes and car fires.

In these days of budget cuts, I find it scandalous that the emergency services are subject to cost-cutting and belt-tightening.

I sleep safe and sound in my bed knowing that if my smoke alarm wakes me, I should be able to get out of my house. In the event that I cannot do so, I know that within minutes I will hear the sirens of a couple of fire engines, and the firefighters' bravery will get me out and their skills will probably save my house from burning to the ground.

If I was to see one of those CSV vehicles coming down the road, I would be concerned, because looking at the picture in The Press, it has no ladders.

The article, to be fair, states that the CSV would at first be deployed with a fire engine. But you can bet that if these trials are a success, they will be deployed on their own.

When somebody dials 999 they are often distressed and in a panic. It is impossible sometimes for an operator to fully assess the situation.

So if a CSV were to attend an incident that was clearly too large or dangerous, then vital time would be lost while fire engines were mobilised to attend.

If that ever happens, then you would have two firefighters watching an incident develop but who were powerless to help as they did not have the necessary equipment.

Maybe I am being extreme, but I genuinely feel the fire service should have money pumped into it - nothing should be left to chance when human life and property are at stake.

Being a firefighter is a job many people would love to do - or is it? I go to work on a morning and I return at night. A firefighter goes to work and is ready to put his or her life on the line for total strangers from the first minute of the shift to the last.

Firefighters are human, things can go wrong, incidents can take a turn for the worse.

Take those firefighters who lost their lives before Christmas at a warehouse blaze. They waved goodbye to their partners, kissed their kids goodbye before they went to work, not knowing they would never see them again.

Thankfully, such incidents are rare. However, it does not escape the fact that firefighters are prepared to risk their lives to save us.

When they are told to go inside a burning building, they don't take a look at it and say "no thanks". They trust their equipment, their training and their fellow firefighters - and get in there.

I appreciate that savings have to be made and money will not be thrown at the Fire Service, but surely savings can be made in other "non-vital areas" rather than the front line?

Most fires are started by human error/carelessness.

We need fully-trained, fully-equipped firefighters to expertly put our mistakes right. What we don't need are dead ones.

* Paul Willey writes in a personal capacity, and not on behalf of City of York Council. Paul works for the council as head of a street-cleaning team.