Yes, they want Ebbw Vale wholetime(24 hour shift), and Abertillery retained, along with Abercarn, Caldicot and Cowbridge.
If Abertillery were out on a shout the next nearest pump is in Blaina, who are also retained, so would take 8-10 minutes to get to Abertillery. But that is the same situation we are in now anyway.
The big difference is, the pump in Abertillery is guaranteed to respond at all times due to the shift we work, albeit with a 5 minute delay at night. Retained pumps are not guaranteed to be available at all times, although to be fair retained crews do their best to make the pump available as much as possible.
Abertillery going retained would mean the nearest guaranteed pumps are Ebbw Vale and Cefn Fforest.
Diabolical same problem as ever Ebbw Vale get it all. So now their people are more important to save in a fire than someone from Abertillery. I'll back you all the way on this one aberfireman it seems we need an MP from this valley to stand up to these morons form Ebbw Vale who are only out to cover there own arses.
Aberfireman - Yes it is Cara Williams - your screen name doesn't give too much away so I won't hazard a guess!
So what is your main concern about Abertillery going retained? The location of the nearest guaranteed pump? Would any of the current firefighters lose money by going retained?
A big worry, in my view, is for the future - when all current staff have retired or moved onto pastures new, what happens then? New retained staff would need to be recruited, meaning that for there to be staff available in the daytime, they would either have to have retained firefighting as their only job (money's not fantastic is it??) or they'd have to work in Abertillery and have a very understanding boss who let them go on shouts. Chances of that?? Slim to none i reckon!
Cheers Eddy, your support will be much appreciated.
Cara, it's Scott.
I'll try to explain it without being biased. Abertillery going retained would mean an additonal 5 minute delay turning out in the day, granted this may not seem like a big deal.
Statistically, retained pumps are off the run(unavailable) between 5-20% of the time, on average all over South Wales, some are never off the run, some are off the run more. Yes the nearest guaranteed pumps would be the stations I mentioned, although other small towns get by with a local retained pump, and there are more retained pumps than wholetime in South Wales.
The guys working at the stations under threat wouldn't lose any money, and neither would they lose their jobs. They will simply be moved to other wholetime stations, and be asked to do retained duties on their days off at their old station.
As for the future, well new retained Firefighters would be recruited as and when vacancies arise, keeping a rolling intake of new personnel, same as anywhere else. People who work retained are usually shift workers, off duty wholetimers or self employed. To be fair the retained money can top up your regular wages a fair amount.
As I said, I'm trying not to be biased here, so I'm giving 2 sides to most scenarios, good and bad, but you will probably see us campaigning soon enough.
WELL DONE ABERFIREMAN FOR BRINGING THIS TO THE PUBLICS ATTENTION
I HOPE THAT EVERYONE USING THIS FORUM WILL HELP TO PUT UP A STRONG FIGHT TO KEEP OUR COMMUNITY FIRE STATION OPEN.
TO START THE BALL ROLLING IVE BEEN IN CONTACT WITH MIKE GERMAN'S OFFICE IN EBBW VALE AND ARRANGED A MEETING AT THE STATION FOR TUESDAY.HOPEFULLY WE WILL HAVE THEIR FULL SUPPORT.
ABERFIREMAN AND MYSELF ARE TRYING TO CONTACT AS MANY INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE TO TRY AND HELP AND IF ANYONE ELSE CAN HELP WE WOULD BE VERY GRATEFUL.
PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LOCAL COUNCILLORS ETC.
THANK YOU, CHERYL,CARA,EDDY,CAROLYN AND IAN.WITH PEOPLE LIKE YOU BEHIND US WEVE GOT A GOOD CHANCE OF KEEPING A FULL TIME STATION IN ABERTILLERY.
Yep, after our station meeting we are resolute that we will be fighting this to the end. We will endeavour to keep Abertillery as it is now, with no downgrading in resources.
Abertillery is our local community as well as our place of work and we will not allow cuts like these to just be implemented without a fight. We have the support of our union, and Firefighters from all over South Wales are prepared to back us as well. We are now beginning to contact local councillors to rally up support, so please support us even if its only signing a petition.
This proposal will mean that although a fire engine is parked in Abertillery Fire Station, it may not be available for calls all the time, some retained pumps are off the run up to 60% of the time! The full time Firefighters will refuse to do retained duties as it will be giving the green light to our managers to go ahead with the downgrading.
If the station does get downgraded, it will be crewed by newly recruited retained Firefighters with minimal training and no experience in dealing with house fires, car crashes, or even a grass fire!
I thank you Aberfireman for your e mails this evening, which happened to be copies of our earlier contact via PM which I see very little sense in sending at this stage but obivously you must have had a reason for doing this. Please contact me again to explain why this was necessary. _________________ 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: Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:03 pm Post subject: Risk Reduction Plan & ABERTILLERY Fire Station
We all at sometime or another in our lives or workplaces have to accept changes, sometimes they are advantageous all too often they are not !.
This Risk Reduction Plan and possible downgrading of Abertillery Fire Station is by no stretch of the imagination advantageous, more to the point a "Tradegy" waiting to happen. when and if a major incident occurs in the area and the possibilities of lives being lost due to delayed response times the headlines will read "Lessons will be learnt", all that phrase means is that a mistake (usually by decision makers to change things)has been made and nobody will be held accountable. I do not want the safety of myself, family, friends or relations compromised and give full support to our local Fire & Rescue Staff at Abertillery Fire Station.
I will be contacting my local ward councillors and The Leader of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council J.J.Hopkins who also has the "Special responsibilities for Strong and SAFER communities" to ascertain their views & proposals on this very serious matter.
"IF" and when I get a reply I will post it here on the message board.
for now ,All good wishes and Best of Luck to all concerned at Abertillery Fire Station in the fight to keep Abertillery Station as it is.
I thank you Aberfireman for your e mails this evening, which happened to be copies of our earlier contact via PM which I see very little sense in sending at this stage but obivously you must have had a reason for doing this. Please contact me again to explain why this was necessary.
Then I have no explanation It was sent via e mail same name address and not via the forum earlier in the evening. Only copies of the PM included and no other information. all of which have since been permanently deleted from my PM.
_________________ 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!
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and when I get a reply I will post it here on the message board.
It was sent via e mail same name address and not via the forum earlier in the evening. Only copies of the PM included and no other information.