Huntington fire station jobs: public consultation deadline looms

With only days left for the public to have their say on the proposed changes at Huntington fire station on the outskirts of the city, Labour councillors have called for an extension to give people more time to look at the plans.

They have asked for Fire and Crime Commissioner, Zoe Metcalfe to publish the impact of planned service cuts on Fire Engine response times by location, and having done this, extend the consultation beyond the current deadline of this coming Sunday (August 14) so that residents have more time to understand the impacts of the proposals.

But Commissioner Metcalfe says it's not a cost-cutting exercise, all the information needed is already publicly available and there will be no extension.

Cllr Claire Douglas, leader of the opposition Labour group on City of York Council; Cllr Pete Kilbane, deputy leader; Luke Charters, York Outer Labour Parliamentary Candidate and a local resident and Labour activist had a video call with Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe to make the case against her proposed cuts at the station.

Mr Charters said: “I’m becoming increasingly nervous that it is simply a ‘tick box’ exercise to justify further Tory cuts to the fire service.

“York residents need to have the full picture of the dangerous impact the cuts to
Huntington Fire Station could have. That’s why we called on the Commissioner to
publish data they have modelled, which could show the impact on fire response
times for each area.

“I also recently met several families living on the outskirts of Strensall who are
concerned about the growing threat of wildfires on Strensall Common. With the
climate emergency and recent heatwave, it’s the wrong time to cut fire station cover
which serves many of our rural communities.”

Local resident and Labour activist in Huntington and New Earswick, Hughie
Ferguson who was also on the call said: “I’m genuinely worried about the impact these proposed cuts could have on communities across the north side of our city.

"This planned move from a full-time crew at Huntington Fire Station to an on-call part-time crew could have devastating impacts on residents, and some of those impacts don’t bear thinking about.

"I hope the Commissioner will listen to the strong message coming back to her from
residents and local politicians and think again."

Mrs Metcalfe said: “It is important to note that this is not a cost-cutting exercise. The service has a balanced budget and can focus on having the resources that they need to keep people safe - all savings from the proposals would be reinvested to increase prevention and protection work to stop emergencies from happening in the first place and into improving the on-call model across our whole area.

“One of the proposed changes is to the operating model at Huntington Fire Station which will change from having two fire engines to having a single fire engine crewed by on-call firefighters - this operating model is already widely used across North Yorkshire. The Community Risk Profile classifies Huntington as a ‘low risk’ area and the service have verified this by looking at incident data and demand over the past five years.

“This five years’ worth of data also shows that the average difference in response times from Huntington station will be 3 minutes 47 seconds. Times put out by the Fire Brigade’s Union using only 6 months of data showing longer times are included in this set which demonstrates that there are many more occasions when the on-call crew turnout much quicker than that. It is, of course, correct to say that every second counts when responding to an emergency. But it is also important to recognise that individual fire stations do not operate independently. The York area is also covered by two full-time fire engines at Acomb and Kent Street, and another on-call fire engine at Acomb, with surrounding resources at Easingwold and Malton all of which would respond into the Huntington area. North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service track their vehicles with an Automatic Vehicle Location System meaning they will always send the nearest and quickest fire engine.

“I published the full technical document that sets out the data and evidence for this proposal on my website at the beginning of this consultation in May. I have spent the last 11 weeks holding events in every district and the city, and twice in Huntington, as well as meeting with Councillors and firefighters. My Office have also held focus groups and responded to a significant amount of correspondence, all of which will be fed into our analysis. This is no tick box exercise – it is a genuine consultation and I will take its results into account as part of my decision making process.

“My consultation closes on Sunday and I encourage everyone to read the proposals in full, and give their views, before I make final decisions. The consultation is available at www.tellcommissionerzoe.co.uk.”