NEWSIn brief Essex fire crews have beenastonished by a threat to endessential fitness training for allcrews because of a union claimfor parity for retained firefighters.Chief fire officer David Johnsondismissed the <strong>FBU</strong> proposal as“ridiculous demands”, clai<strong>me</strong>dsuch a move would cost almost£1m and threatened “to removefitness training ti<strong>me</strong> fromwholeti<strong>me</strong> firefighters’ dailyroutine”. Essex <strong>FBU</strong> retainedrep Chris Cox said: “Retainedfirefighters do the sa<strong>me</strong> job andface the sa<strong>me</strong> risks as full-ti<strong>me</strong>firefighters. All we are asking isto have the sa<strong>me</strong> standard offitness training provisions as therest of the frontline professionals.We hope that in the cold light ofday the manage<strong>me</strong>nt will calmdown and realise this is a matterthat deserves to be discussedproperly.” Eight Palestinian firefightersare visiting Britain in a projectorganised by the <strong>FBU</strong> in Scotlandin conjunction with the ScottishGovern<strong>me</strong>nt and the ScottishFire Services Training College.Based in Nablus in the West Bank,they are spending three weeksat the college training in BA,search and rescue, road trafficand urban search and rescue. Afourth week in Manchester willbe spent training to be instructorsthemselves.Nablus firefighters at work,watched by an Israeli tank Roddy Robertson, <strong>FBU</strong>Executive Council <strong>me</strong>mber forScotland, has welco<strong>me</strong>d a ScottishParlia<strong>me</strong>nt debate on the fire andrescue service. “We are delightedwith the com<strong>me</strong>nts made by somany MSPs,” he said. “Not onlydo they value the service weprovide to our communities, butare now beginning to appreciatethe issues of concern that need tobe addressed and are identifyingpositive solutions for the future.”Scotland’s minister for communitysafety, Fergus Ewing, had praisedthe work of firefighters ande<strong>me</strong>rgency fire control operatorsand made commit<strong>me</strong>nts to work toimprove the services.Merseyside warningover cuts and sackingMERSEYSIDEMerseyside fire crews havegiven the fire authorityseven days to withdrawproposed cuts and to reinstatesacked union official KevinHughes or they will ballot forindustrial action.The move on October 28, as<strong>Firefighter</strong> went to press, wasin addition to the ‘Yes’ vote by<strong>me</strong>mbers for strike action insupport of Kevin Hughes. Thisremains in place, although nostrike dates have yet been set.The authority hadannounced cuts including theloss of 68 frontline posts andmoving another 36 firefighterposts to office-based work onsupport staff pay and conditions.The authority has alsoextended the use of thecontroversial Low Level Activityand Risk (LLAR) system atEccleston fire station, which<strong>me</strong>ans longer response ti<strong>me</strong>s,extended working hours and theloss of firefighter posts in breachof an agree<strong>me</strong>nt to seek theinvolve<strong>me</strong>nt of the conciliationservice ACAS.The union says there haveESSEXEssex fire crews are asking for a review of cutsimposed on 1 October after a series of 999incidents exposed problems. The union saysthe cuts have already started to affect the service’sability to respond effectively to e<strong>me</strong>rgencies.Cuts to the crewing of rescue tenders (RTs) andaerial ladder platforms (ALPs) <strong>me</strong>ans they are notalways available to respond to 999 calls becausethere are too few firefighters to crew all the fireengines.In October a fire in Colchester saw the ALPand the two fire engines from Colchester firestation being used. At the sa<strong>me</strong> ti<strong>me</strong> a road trafficcollision required Colchester’s RT – but there wasno-one left at the station to crew it. Before thecuts, Colchester’s ALP and RT would both havehad dedicated specialist crews available to respondKevin Hughes: His sacking is partof the fire authority’s aggressiveactions, says brigade secretary LesSkarrattsbeen breaches of the agree<strong>me</strong>ntthat ended a dispute in 2006 andhas accused the fire authority ofaggressive manage<strong>me</strong>nt and alack of compromise or flexibility.Les Skarratts, Merseyside<strong>FBU</strong> brigade secretary, said:“These are real cuts to thenumber of frontline firefightersin Merseyside which willimpact on how we respond to999 e<strong>me</strong>rgencies. It will <strong>me</strong>anReal life exposes folly of cutsCOLIN McPHERSONfewer firefighters spread morethinly taking longer to get toincidents.”Kevin Hughes, vice-chair ofMerseyside <strong>FBU</strong>, was dismissedafter allegations of assault whichhe has always denied.“The local fire crews havehad enough, but all we are doingis responding to the aggressiveactions of the fire authoritywhich includes sacking KevinHughes,” said Les Skarratts.“There was no substance tothe allegations made which iswhy he was never charged aftera thorough police investigation.“There is a lack of compromiseand flexibility on their part.“We have held a number of<strong>me</strong>etings with the fire authority,including two NJC <strong>me</strong>etings,but our proposals have beenignored or rejected.“The cutbacks will <strong>me</strong>an thatwe can’t maintain our presentstaffing levels on appliancesanswering e<strong>me</strong>rgency calls.“Unless the fire authorityhas a change of heart and wantsto reach a compromise thenthe union will be forced into afurther ballot which will extendthe dispute.”im<strong>me</strong>diately to both e<strong>me</strong>rgencies.In the sa<strong>me</strong> week, Colchester’s ALP wasmobilised to Chelmsford at the sa<strong>me</strong> ti<strong>me</strong> asa road traffic collision in Harwich. The closestavailable RT with a specialist crew was in Harlow– over 60 miles away. Even on blue lights Harlowto Harwich takes a long ti<strong>me</strong>. It also <strong>me</strong>ant therewas no RT at Harlow to attend incidents in thatpart of the county.Later that sa<strong>me</strong> day there was a major alertat Stansted. Before the cuts, Harlow would havesent its ALP and RT appliances. But Harlow’s nowsingle specialist crew was sent only on the rescuetender, leaving Harlow’s ALP idle at the fire station.Adrian Clarke, <strong>FBU</strong> regional secretary, said:“These are real-life incidents where the lack ofdedicated crews for specialist vehicles has brutallyexposed the gaps. What might work in theory isnot working properly in practice.”6 FireFighter <strong>November</strong>/<strong>December</strong> <strong>2009</strong>
NEWS FOCUSOff the databaseDNAOn 27 <strong>December</strong> 2008 Hereford andWorcester firefighter Matt Repton wasarrested on the suspicion of causingdeath by dangerous driving when on duty.He had a DNA sample taken and his DNAprofile was loaded on to the national DNAdatabase.At around 0645 that morning he hadattended a road traffic collision on theM5 to M42 eastbound slip road. The crewundertook Hereford and Worcester Fire andRescue Service’s standard operating procedures(SOP) for motorways and Matt, as thedriver, had parked the appliance in a ‘fendoff’ position.Shortly after the arrival of the fire crewa vehicle ca<strong>me</strong> down the eastbound sliproad spun and collided with the rear andside of the fire appliance, killing one of theoccupants of the car. Matt had been at thescene for just over a minute.He was arrested by West Mercia police,cautioned for causing death by dangerousdriving, taken to Redditch police station,processed and placed in a cell. He was laterquestioned and released on police bail.The Crown Prosecution Service laterfound no reasons or indeed evidence tobring charges. He was guilty of no offence.The 2001 and 2003 Criminal JusticeActs extended the power of police to retainthe DNA samples of anyone convicted ofa cri<strong>me</strong> to include anyone who is charged,cautioned or warned, regardless ofwhether or not they are found guilty.Since 2001, nearly 1 million DNAprofiles from people who‘This shows, once again, thatan injury to one is an injuryto all and when united wecan make the difference’have never been convicted of a cri<strong>me</strong> havebeen stored on the DNA database. Matt’s isone of those profiles.The European Court of Human Rightshas ruled that the policy of retainingindefinitely the DNA samples and profiles ofinnocent people is unlawful and a breach ofhuman rights.With the backing of the <strong>FBU</strong> Matt starteda campaign to have his DNA sample, fingerprintsand photographs removed from thepolice database.<strong>FBU</strong> regional secretary Chris Downessaid: “It was difficult to find out how to getMatt’s details removed. The police send onlystandard letters in reply and issue no advice,guidance or information as to how or whereto go to get details removed.”A significant campaignthen got under way withthe help of the <strong>FBU</strong>’slawyers. But it tooknearly a year of campaigning and publicityto have the details removed.Matt has now received confirmationfrom West Mercia Police that his DNAand other details will be removed from thenational database.Peter Hope, Hereford and Worcesterbrigade chair, said: “The <strong>FBU</strong> played a keyrole in righting this wrong. But this shouldbe of wider concern because Matt was atwork as a firefighter doing his job to thestandard operating procedures set down.“Thompsons solicitors will look at thequestion of whether the arrest was lawfuland, if it was not, take what action needs tobe taken. This shows, once again, thatan injury to one is an injury to alland when united we can make thedifference.”Artist’s impression of a DNA molecule<strong>November</strong>/<strong>December</strong> <strong>2009</strong> FireFighter 7
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