Commissioner says she would still consider fire crew changes ‘even if service had millions in the bank’
Zoe Metcalfe is due to announce her decision on the plans on Thursday (29 September)
North Yorkshire’s police, fire and crime commissioner has said she would still consider proposed changes to Harrogate’s fire crews “even if the service had millions of pounds in the bank”.
Commissioner Zoë Metcalfe is due to announce her decision on the plans to cut the number of night-time fire engines to just one on Thursday.
She has argued that the changes would allow Harrogate fire station to have two better equipped fire engines during the day when emergencies are more likely to occur.
Commissioner Metcalfe has also said the proposals – which are part of a new risk and resource model – would allow for investment in fire prevention.
Asked at a council meeting last night whether she would still consider the plans if the fire service was better funded, commissioner Metcalfe said she “would still be doing this” and that she was “very assured” residents will be “kept safe”.
She said: “We are always looking at different ways to get additional money into the fire service.
“We have this juxtaposition where North Yorkshire Police is what I would call well funded, but the fire service has just only got a balanced budget.
“As far as I am concerned about the risk and resource modelling, I would still be doing this even if we had a lot of money in the bank.”
Currently, Harrogate fire station has one fire engine which can respond to all emergencies and a smaller “tactical response” vehicle that both operate around the clock.
Under the proposals put forward by the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, the smaller vehicle would be replaced by a larger fire engine, but it would only be crewed during the day.
The plans have drawn criticism from North Yorkshire’s Fire Brigades Union which said the changes along with similar proposals for Scarborough and Huntington would leave the county with a “second-rate emergency response service that will put lives at risk”.
Commissioner Metcalfe has repeatedly insisted that the proposals have been based on “extensive” risk assessments which look at when and where emergencies are most likely to occur.
She also said the changes would allow for improvements in other areas including the fire service’s on-call model which means only five out of 38 fire stations are currently crewed 24 hours a day.
These are Acomb, Harrogate, Huntington, Scarborough and York fire stations.
Commissioner Metcalfe told last night’s meeting: “It is really important to realise that our community risk profile makes sure that we identify where the risks are and that the right amount of resources are in place.
“It is also absolutely right that we invest in prevention and protection, as well as our on-call model which desperately needs attention.”