On-call fire engine services could be scrapped in Macclesfield
By Mark Smith - Local Democracy Reporter
6th Dec 2023 | Local News
There are plans to change how Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service operates in Macclesfield.
Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service have launched a consultation which will change how the emergency service works in Macclesfield, and three other Cheshire towns.
Under the new Community Risk Management Plan, Macclesfield would no longer have an on-call fire engine, but there would be zero change to the number of fire engines guaranteed to be available.
On-call firefighters work in other employment but when an emergency calls, they leave their other job to head to their local fire stations to get ready to tackle the incident. This is different from full-time firefighters, with firefighting being their only line of work, and are always at the station.
The consultation states: "On average the on-call fire engines at Runcorn, Winsford, Northwich and Macclesfield were available for less than 18% of the time during weekdays and 33% overall during 2022/23."
The current situation means that, although on-call staff are not present there all the time, they can still be called in during the night or weekends to respond to emergencies.
The new plan would leave one full time fire crew in place and replace the second, on-call crew, with another full time crew. But that crew would only work during the day and not at evenings and weekends like the on-call crew currently does. But the service insists each station would still have cover around-the-clock.
The service claims this would not harm services across the impacted towns as fire engines could be deployed from other parts of Cheshire.
Other towns to face a similar fate to their on-call programmes includes Northwich, Runcorn and Winsford.
Northwich firefighters have been vocal against the plans on social media.
Macclesfield Fire Station and Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service have been contacted for comment.
Andrew Fox-Hewitt, secretary of the Fire Brigades Union in Cheshire, said: "We are aware the proposals are causing concern and anxiety at stations where the removal of a fire engine is proposed, and we have requested data along with risk and task analysis from the service to understand how these proposals will impact the community particularly at night and weekends."
The consultation details proposals of converting Macclesfield's on-call fire engine to a weekday daytime fire engine, which would primarily provide flexible cover across Poynton and Bollington.
"We are proposing this change because the availability of the on-call fire engine at Macclesfield in the day was on average 24% in 2022/23," said Cheshire Fire and Rescue on the consultation document.
"In the first five months of 2023/24, it has averaged just 6%. This does not include the on-call cover provided by crews at night. At Bollington, daytime availability averaged 76% and at Poynton this figure was 32%.
"Because there is already a full-time fire engine at Macclesfield during the day, there would be no change to the level of guaranteed fire cover in Macclesfield. The proposal would provide guaranteed cover in Poynton and Bollington during weekday daytimes.
"If one of these stations were available to respond then the weekday daytime fire engine would operate in the other areas in order to best maintain fire cover. If fire engines at both stations were available to respond then we would use the weekday daytime fire engine flexibly elsewhere in Cheshire – in Macclesfield if required."
Alex Waller, Chief Fire Officer and chief executive at Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "Our proposals include converting four fire engines, currently crewed by part-time (on-call) firefighters and not often available, to fire engines crewed by full-time firefighters and guaranteed to be available during weekday daytimes, when we are usually busiest.
"This would mean more full-time firefighter jobs and more fire engines being available. These fire engines would improve response times and serve right across Cheshire.
"We have invested significantly to improve availability of fire engines that are crewed by on-call firefighters; we now spend 45 per cent more than we did five years ago.
"We recognise that a small number of part-time staff would be impacted personally. We understand their concerns. Should the proposal be approved, we would offer them a full-time job and support them as best as we can."
"We have also written to affected staff and urged them to voice their concerns and respond to the consultation."
2021 figures reported by Macclesfield Nub News suggested Macclesfield has 13 on-call (part-time) firefighters. The current number is not known at the time of publication.
Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service believe that their new Community Risk Management Plan will allow them to "rely less on on-call (part-time) fire engines and increase the number of full-time fire engines."
Macclesfield: You can view and respond to the draft plans HERE. A video explaining the consultation can be watched at the top of this article, and on the aforementioned link.
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