News<strong>July</strong> <strong>2010</strong>> Latest news> Sounding off> In briefDes res: firestation, onecareful ownerHERTSTo the estate agent, it’s just anotherdesirable property. “Prominent mainroad frontage, suitable for a varietyof uses, Radlett town centre and mainlinerailway station both within 200m,” says theagent’s brochure.There’s just one problem. Thisproperty is the only fire station in Radlett,Hertfordshire. The station was closedin 2006 as part of a council cost-cuttingexercise, even though it attended 300 calls ayear. Now it’s up for sale.Tony Smith, FBU Hertfordshire secretary,said: “We believe that it is morally unjustifiablethat Hertfordshire county councilshould now look to profit from the sale ofsuch a valuable historic a<strong>me</strong>nity in whichso much community funding and effort hasbeen invested.“The people of Radlett are looking totheir politicians to start fulfilling theirelection promises. This building is andalways has been a community asset andthat’s how it should remain.”A campaign group, SOFAR (Save our fireand rescue) is demanding either the reinstate<strong>me</strong>ntof the fire station or that the site is usedfor a community safety centre, incorporatingfire, police and ambulance services.The group, supported by the FireBrigades Union, accuses Hertfordshirecounty council of bad faith. The councilhad agreed that if the community wantedto keep its fire station, it would have to payfor it. The funding was secured from thecommunity by the action group, but thepoliticians reneged on the deal and put thestation up for sale.Carolynne Brown, chair of thecampaign, said: “SOFAR is totally opposedto the proposed sale of the land. We believethat the building and land should be retainedfor community use and we will continue tocampaign against a change of use of the site,or any planning application.”SAVE OUR LOCAL FIRE STATIONPlans to sell a landmark fire station inBrighton have been shelved becauseofficials cannot find anywhere to builda replace<strong>me</strong>nt.<strong>Firefighter</strong>s and campaigners (left)have been fighting to save PrestonCircus fire station, after East Sussexfire and rescue service revealed itwanted to sell the building last year.Steve Liszka, FBU rep for PrestonCircus, said: “This supports our viewthat East Sussex fire authority cannotfind a site better than Preston Circusand it is highly unlikely they will findanother site as good as this one.”He added: “We are opposed tothe move. We think Preston Circusis perfectly equipped to cope withBrighton’s needs.”Despite announcing that it willdelay the sell-off for at least a yearbecause it cannot find a suitable sitefor a new station, the fire authorityhas vowed to push on with the project.The campaign to defend PrestonCircus will continue.4 FireFighter <strong>July</strong> <strong>2010</strong>
Bob Fitz-Gerald,FBU ULF regionalco-ordinator, and LornaTaylor, the FBU ULFskills for life advisor(centre), receive theULF national awardfrom Lenny Henry(right) and for<strong>me</strong>rminister Pat McFaddenFBU union learning goesfrom strength to strengthEDUCATIONThe FBU’s involve<strong>me</strong>nt in the UnionLearning Fund (ULF) has gone fromstrength to strength, with awards andsuccessful bids this year.The union succeeded with applicationsmade at the end of 2009 and the beginningof <strong>2010</strong>. New funding will go to England(£1.1 million), Scotland (£45,000) andNorthern Ireland (£15,000). Wales has afurther year of funding before a new applicationis to be submitted.Trevor Shanahan, FBU national ULFproject manager, said: “It is six years sincethe Fire Brigades Union successfully appliedfor national funding from the UnionLearning Fund to invest in raising andengaging <strong>me</strong>mbers and employees of the fireand rescue service in lifelong learning.”The project has <strong>me</strong>ant the develop<strong>me</strong>ntof a new union official role to the workplaceLONDONThe Fire Brigades Union is calling onthe commissioner of the Londonfire brigade to head off a sum<strong>me</strong>r ofindustrial strife by facing down authoritymanagers and politicians who stand accusedof stoking the fla<strong>me</strong>s of conflict.Industrial relations in the brigade havesoured following attempts by councillorBrian Coleman and his militant colleaguesin the London Fire and E<strong>me</strong>rgency PlanningAuthority to force through a number ofunwelco<strong>me</strong> <strong>me</strong>asures. <strong>Firefighter</strong>s acrossLondon are angry at moves to introducechanges to shift patterns and other conditionsof service in the face of overwhelmingworkforce opposition.FBU London regional organiser BenSprung said: “When the 12-hour shiftproposals were first announced, the FBUran a consultative ballot, overseen by anindependent scrutineer, which asked– the union learning representative (ULR).He added: “We have trained close on 500ULRs across the UK fire and rescue serviceover the last six years and now, with the FBUunion learning policy looking to embedlifelong learning the new project seeks tore-invigorate and engage all ULRs.”The project has delivered 17,000 coursesand 3,000 new qualifications with over20,000 FRS employees already having hadso<strong>me</strong> involve<strong>me</strong>nt in learning opportunities.Shanahan said: “The ULF project hashad a profound impact on lifelong learningwithin the UK fire and rescue service.FBU <strong>me</strong>mbers and fire and rescue serviceemployees continue to show their willingnessand readiness to engage in learning, refreshtheir learning and develop new skills.”> > Further information can be obtainedby contacting Trevor Shanahan, attrevor.shanahan@fbu.org.<strong>uk</strong> or 01670 534685.‘Change culture to avoid conflict’<strong>me</strong>mbers whether they wanted a new shiftsystem or whether they were happy with thepresent one. A staggering 98% of <strong>me</strong>mbersvoted against the proposals for a new shiftsystem. Despite this very clear response,the brigade has continued as if nothinghappened. They completely ignored the veryclear wishes of their own workforce andcarried on regardless.”The mood of dissatisfaction is likelyto result in an official ballot for industrialaction, after a series of branch <strong>me</strong>etingsacross the capital revealed the true extent ofthe bitterness felt by firefighters.“But,” said Sprung, “it is still within the giftof authority managers to prevent an industrialbattle if they wish to do so. What it wouldtake, though, is a complete culture change inthe way they approach industrial relationswith the FBU, and it would <strong>me</strong>an that thatsmall band of hardline, militant politicians,who seem to be doing so much damage to ourservice must be tackled head-on.”Sounding off!KEVIN HERNIMANSouth West FBU regional officialHelp keep our ‘unisex’kit data up to dateThe FBU and its personal protectiveequip<strong>me</strong>nt sub-committee have beenworking to get information from fire andrescue services about PPE. It is staggeringthat many fire and rescue services have notsigned up to Firebuy for a variety of reasons,one being they did not like the colour choices.Now so<strong>me</strong> fire and rescue services areinsisting that ‘unisex’ firefighters existbecause they are issuing ‘unisex’ PPE. Why?Because it is a cheaper option. But if fire andrescue services are honest, it is male kit witha ‘unisex’ label sewn in.PPE was tested on the manikins Ralph(Research Aim Longer Protection againstHeat) and Sophie (System ObjectiveThe female test manikin Sophie wearing male-fitkit is exposed to 20% more burnsProtection against Heat In an E<strong>me</strong>rgency). Itwas found that Sophie wearing male-fit kitis exposed to 20% more burns than if she iswearing female-fit PPE. Based on the resultsof the tests carried out so far it appearsthat significant differences in burn injury dooccur between male and female manikinswearing the sa<strong>me</strong> design of clothing. Thistype of manikin fire testing is an optionalrequire<strong>me</strong>nt of EN 469 and of EN ISO 11612(revision of EN 531) – the European standardscovering firefighters’ protective clothing.If our female firefighters are wearingunisex kit, they are exposed to more danger.And the law states that all PPE must be fittedcorrectly to ALL firefighters.Our <strong>me</strong>mbers are still suffering “reddening”injuries whilst training in controlled conditions,although their PPE is up to EN 469 standard.Surely our <strong>me</strong>mbers must be afforded the bestpossible protection whilst they are putting theirlives on the line every day and to save themfrom catastrophic injuries?I am collecting information on which fireand rescue services are issuing “unisex” firekit. Please help us to keep our database upto date.> > Contact: kevin.herniman@fbu.org.<strong>uk</strong> or0117 9355132.DAVID BURROWS<strong>July</strong> <strong>2010</strong> FireFighter 5
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