The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Fewer firefighters may attend 999 calls and more crews could become medical co-responders as budget cuts continue to bite.
Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue has launched a 12-week public consultation on its latest Integrated Risk Management Planning document, which looks at six proposed changes to the way it operates in 2015/16.
A series of public presentations will be held across the county to give people the chance to find out more and have their say, including one at Spalding Fire Station in West Elloe Avenue, on Wednesday, December 17.
The consultation period will end on February 6.
Included in the consultation document are some potential savings options to help the service meet anticipated cuts of around £1.23million to its budget.
It is expected that around 46 per cent of that figure will be saved through potential changes to the service’s senior management structure, fire control and support staffing, leaving £664,000 to be found elsewhere.
The document says: “Notwithstanding the significant savings already made by Lincolnshire County Council, there is a requirement to identify an additional £90million of savings by 2018/19.
“While it is assumed fire and rescue will remain a high priority service, the scale of the overall savings required are such that some reduction in the service’s budget is necessary.”
The consultation will also look at the current arrangement which insists four retained firefighters are in attendance before a fire engine can be despatched to the scene of an emergency.
A trial has been piloted at four stations where three firefighters attended certain incidents, such as road traffic accidents or small fires in open areas, and it is now proposed that the model is adopted across the county.
Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue is also considering changing its targets for response times to emergencies within the county, using a “drive time map”, showing ten minute, 15 minute, 20 minute and 25 minute zones, to give residents a realistic idea of how long it will take for help to arrive.
The consultation document says current response targets are no longer appropriate due to a variety of factors including more congested roads and unavailability of fire engines due to low crewing levels.
It is also looking to reassess its response time to road traffic collisions and expand its co-responder service, which sees fire crews attend medical emergencies to provide assistance before an ambulance arrives, to a further five stations across the county, taking the total to 26.
The full consultation document is available from the Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue section of Lincolnshire County Council’s website at www.lincolnshire.gov.uk
More details about the public consultation sessions will be released in due course.
