Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 11:10 am Post subject: Abertillery Fire Station
South Wales Fire & Rescue Service have just released their 'Risk Reduction Plan' for 2005/06.
In the plan are proposals to change the crewing arrangements for certain stations in Blaenau Gwent. Ebbw Vale and Abertillery are affected, along with Abercarn.
Currently Firefighters at these stations work a system called 'day crewing' where the they are on station during the day to do training, safety visits and other work routines, and at night they respond to calls from home. 2 'watches' carry out this system on a 4 on 4 off basis.
The proposals are to change Ebbw Vale to a 24 hour shift station meaning there will be a crew on station at all times. This is obviously better for the people living in Ebbw Vale as it is an enhancement in fire cover.
In Abertillery and Abercarn it is proposed that the crewing arrangement change to fully retained, meaning Firefighters will respond form their home or work at all times of the day(known as 'retained'). The Firefighters currently working at these stations will be sent to other 24 hour stations and be asked to do the retained duties at their 'old' station on their days off.
Last edited by aberfireman on Thu May 11, 2006 9:22 am; edited 1 time in total
Nothing to do with pay mate, its fire cover in your area thats affected. If you don't care don't worry, and don't moan when your family have a house fire and the nearest guaranteed pumps are in Ebbw Vale and Cefn Fforest.
Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 8:51 am Post subject: Fire Fighters
Abertillerydeserves and needs the same as Ebbw Vale, full time cover from our local firefighters. Lets do all we can to support our fire fighters and to call for 24 hour cover. I would be worried sick if I thought we had to wait for a fire tender to attend from another area.
Let's not put our families at risk!!!
I would have expected that any risk to human life within a community be an established priority before any reduction in services are considered.
Does this new proposal necessarily mean that the fire service will be unable to respond to a house fire or emergency situation as in a road traffic accident less quickly or effectively if based at Ebbw Vale?
Would the new proposal be more cost effective in providing better training or deploying the resources available more efficiently and effectively reducing the number of deaths or injury from fire or road traffic accidents and meet any new challenges that may present? _________________ My life is no rehearsal There'll be no curtain call encore, so I've thrown my screwed up script away to ad lib my life once more!
Carolyn, if the proposals go ahead it will mean a slower response in Abertillery during the day. According to the plan it will have minimal impact on safety.
As for cost effectiveness, according to the plan it will save £350,000 a year per station, it costs £500,000 per station at the moment. Ebbw Vale will se an increased cost.
The system they want in Abertillery is already in place in many other towns around South Wales, including Blaina, Brynmawr, Tredegar and Blaenavon.
The new system will be touted as 24 hour cover as you still getting a response, albeit with a 5 minute delay. Also, with the new system there is no guarantee the fire engine in Abertillery will be available at all times.
[q]If you don't care don't worry, and don't moan when your family have a house fire and the nearest guaranteed pumps are in Ebbw Vale and Cefn Fforest.[/q]
Nobody worried about fire cover when the FBU kept calling strikes did they? Nobody worried that the overstretched military had to use old, antiquated equipment to provide a laughable amount of cover, did they? Nobody cared that the military personnel used were taken from operational staff, and that the rest of us (yep, I'm military) had to try and cope with a load of our staff missing, did they?
I agree that the fire service is an absolutely essential part of normal life, and that it's a tough and dangerous job, but please don't wave that sanctimonious guilt trip under my nose.
Mate, I've simply presented the facts to the forum, and I'm hoping to gauge opinion on what the public think of the station being downgraded. That may influence if/how we decide to take action.
I too will no doubt support the cause, just posing questions to make a fully informed decsion The last part of my question has not been answered, will the downsizing provide the funds for better training, prevention, and a full team working in unison in Blaenau Gwent in the event of any new challenge that may present. _________________ My life is no rehearsal There'll be no curtain call encore, so I've thrown my screwed up script away to ad lib my life once more!
As I said the downgrading will save the brigade a lot of money, but I very much doubt that these savings will be passed on to the people pf Blaenau Gwent.
Better training? No because instead of being able to train every working day, the Firefighters will have a drill session one night a week.
Prevention? According to the plan, the brigade are going to employ extra Firefighters(those on light duties really), to carry out safety visits during the transition, which we do now.
New challenges? I don't really know what you mean by that.
Thank you, your initial post now makes more sense not being a fireman myself. So infact it is a trojan horse
New challenges; A terrorist attack[/b]
Okay I'll get my coat _________________ My life is no rehearsal There'll be no curtain call encore, so I've thrown my screwed up script away to ad lib my life once more!
Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 5:58 pm Post subject: Abertillery Fire satation
Here we go again second best to Ebbw Vale,nobody from outside the area would need a map to find any of our local friendly councillors.We all need to have the assurity of a service that is able to respond quickly and effectively,it's about time they realised it's not about saving money it's about savings lives.Perhaps they could donate their expenses to the fighting fund.As for our friend who dislikes Unions how does he think anyone gets decent working conditions and any sort of pay rise,strikes are used as a last resort and not taken lightly.I'm sure no-one in the Fire service was happy about withdrawing their labour or losing pay.I'm also sure that the Union will have a vital part to play in stopping this lunacy from taking place.
Just to clarify, they're making Ebbw Vale wholetime? And making Abertillery retained? So would Ebbw Vale be Aber's nearest pump if the Aber station were out on a shout?? That's a good fifteen minute drive isn't it? Not happy about my family being put at that kind of risk
Everyone should get behind the Aber firefighters, it's just another ridiculous money-saving initiative that's got disaster written all over it.
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