Published at 11:10, Thursday, 30 August 2012

SIR – I would like to bring to the public’s attention my belief that the county’s senior fire officers are “playing with fire” and putting people’s lives at risk by applying unnecessary criteria in their quest to recruit new retained firefighters in rural areas.

YOUNG FIREFIGHTERS: Young firefighters in a passing-out parade at Millom last November. Youngsters are often trained by retained firefighters – but will changes to recruitment process prevent people being taken on?

Seascale Fire Station in particular urgently needs to recruit more firefighters as they are currently operating with reduced numbers, which means that for 50 per cent of the time between the hours of 8am and 6pm, the fire engine is unable to respond to calls as there is not a full crew available to man it. This then leaves the area vulnerable and stretches the resources of neighbouring fire stations.

Applicants for retained firefighter posts have always been required to live in the village, be able to pass a fitness test and if possible either give 24 hour cover or work shifts. In a rural village this inevitably restricts the number of applicants who are eligible, and recently a written test has been added which requires passing a psychometric test and it is this that has been the stumbling block for the few applicants that have reached that far.

It is within the power of those at the top to show discretion with these tests but so far they have refused to do this, and instead of revising the pass level, or offering advice to those who have failed on minor aspects, they have turned down all applicants leaving no-one left eligible to apply.

This is not only frustrating for the current firefighters, who were hoping to gain extra support from new young recruits, but is also giving out a very negative message to those young applicants who have shown great enthusiasm in their wish to serve their community and some have already attended a young firefighters’ course, where they showed great potential.

These courses are run by some of the retained firefighters in their spare time, keen to pass on their knowledge and experience by training youngsters in firefighting skills. Some of the youngsters who attended these courses were inspired and positively encouraged to apply for the vacancies by their mentors. One applicant has even attended other courses for young firefighters purely as a volunteer helper and has continually shown an interest in joining the fire service as a retained firefighter.

How demoralising, then, is it for these youngsters to be encouraged in this way only to be knocked down for reasons no-one seems to be able to explain to them. It is also demoralising for the firefighters giving up their spare time to provide these courses.

For the senior administrators in the fire service to show them such a lack of support and contempt for the hard work they put in is, in my opinion, quite appalling.

As the wife of a retained firefighter for 32 years I have spent all those years knowing that I, like all the families of retained firefighters, can be deserted at a moment’s notice and indeed frequently have been. I have happily accepted that fact, knowing that the people of my local area will receive the full support of the fire service in their hour of need. However it now worries and angers me that this is no longer the case and my community is left vulnerable without full cover from its own fire station. I know there are suitable enthusiastic, able-bodied young people who are perfectly capable of carrying out the required training to become fully fledged firefighters.

Like most people, I don’t ask for a superhero with a degree to come to my rescue, I prefer someone with the correct training and a bit of common sense. If the few at the top would like to join the rest of us in the real world by altering their policies and enable the recruitment of these capable and enthusiastic young people we could all rest a little easier. Will it take a tragedy for those in charge to come to their senses?

A concerned Seascale resident

ADRIAN Buckle, Head of Service Delivery for Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service, replies: “To become a firefighter in the UK each and every applicant is required to undertake a selection process known as the National Firefighter pre-entry selection tests and it is true to say that these tests have evolved significantly over the last 32 years.

“Each applicant has to have a good level of physical fitness, be in excellent health and have an acceptable level of literacy and numeracy skills. These pre-requisites are important due to the potential demands placed upon modern firefighters.

“The process to become a firefighter in Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) is standardised and is the same for all of the different duty systems utilised by the service, whether that be on-call (part time like Seascale) or regular (fulltime like Barrow). We do not have a two-tier service within the county - firefighters at all stations are required to meet the same standards.

“Importantly, on-call firefighters are required to live and/or work within five minutes of the fire station at which they serve and this does limit to some extent the potential applicants at these stations. However the on-call duty system is a cost-effective way of providing a service to communities in Cumbria and this duty system is utilised at 36 of the 39 fire stations within the county.

“The process to become a firefighter consists of written tests, practical tests, physical fitness tests, an interview, and then medical and eyesight tests. To progress you must pass each individual stage before moving on to the next.

“CFRS follows the national standard for recruiting firefighters. Each part of the process holds equal importance to ensure that the applicant can reach and maintain their ‘Personal Qualities and Attributes’ throughout their career. Throughout the recruitment process CFRS ensures that each applicant can, if they wish, attend an open day and taster session, run by fully qualified firefighters. They have the opportunity to undergo practice tests and speak to the recruitment team. Assistance, support and guidance are available to applicants during each part of the process.

“Each time a station wishes to recruit more staff a business case must be submitted to myself identifying why there is a need for recruitment. The managers responsible for Seascale submitted business cases in 2011 and again in 2012. These were based upon cover being required predominantly during the daytime period of the week.

“Both business cases were accepted, and the Workington Locality Management team, together with existing Seascale firefighters and the recruitment team, ran open days in 2011 and 2012 for prospective applicants to attend.In 2011, 10 applicants applied. Six were unsuccessful as they were not able to provide availability to attend incidents when required, one failed the application form, one failed the physical test, and two failed the psychometric tests. Support and feedback was available to all of the applicants In 2012, there were two applicants. Unfortunately one failed at the application form stage and the other failed the psychometric tests.

“As with all employment and recruitment processes there are many ways in which a candidate can fail to progress. At any point they can ask for feedback on where they did not reach the required standard. During this feedback session the applicant will also be informed where they can improve in readiness for future campaigns.

“Importantly I would like to point out that the Service has never failed to answer a 999 call in any area of the county and has always provided a team of professionally trained firefighters to attend any incident and bring it to a successful conclusion.

“We are not looking to recruit superheroes, but people with the personal qualities, skills and attributes to enable them to undertake successfully the level of training required of a modern firefighter.

“If anyone is interested in joining the Service please check our website – www.Cumbriafire.gov.uk – to see where we are currently recruiting to our On Call stations.

“If you would like to question me personally on the recruitment and selection of firefighters I will be attending the Mid Copeland Neighbourhood Forum - Tuesday 18 September 2012 - 7:00 pm (venue yet to be confirmed).

SIR – With regard to the withdrawal of refuse collection services, we are a retired OAP couple living in the hamlet of Millyeat and receive an excellent black bin, brown bin and recycling services from the Copeland Council operatives.

We reject the threat of Copeland Council’s councillors and management to withdraw our legal right of refuse collection from outside our property.

Our property (with two others) is at the end of a public highway maintained by the highway department (repair of potholes etc.). The current refuse vehicles turn around outside our property.

The suggestion by Copeland Council that we transport our black bin, brown bin and recycling boxes 600 metres to Bleak House junction is ludicrous, dangerous, impractical and illegal. The proposal to leave the bins at a blind bend where overturned bins will cause accidents is unsafe.

The time taken from the start of the bridleway to reach our property is about 15 seconds and the refuse vehicles need to travel this distance in any case to turn around.

We appeal for support from relevant organisations by copy of this letter to Age UK, the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and the Local Authority Ombudsman.

The current proposal to withdraw refuse collection from outside homes is a reversal of a century of progress by public authorities.

Ann and John WILLIAMS

Millyeat, Frizington

SIR – Let this be the last time that I have to respond to your correspondent Mr C Farr (letters, August 23) over his vindictive remarks about Britain’s most famous citizen, Winston Churchill, highlighted by his research into Mr Churchill’s background.

Sworn class warrior that he aspires to be, Mr Farr’s putative enemy must of course be someone of high birth, in which case he has selected the man most responsible for saving Britain in its most desperate hours. His hatred of Winston Churchill extends almost to the pathological in his diatribe.

I will briefly respond to the claims Mr Farr makes in his letter:

Britain standing alone in 1940: Mr Farr claims this to be historical balderdash. However, it took a considerable time for most Commonwealth troops to be deployed against the Germans and, later, the Japanese. Effectively, their presence in numbers did not begin until 1941. With the exception of India, most of the Commonwealth countries were extremely small in population anyway.

Polish Airmen: Conducted themselves magnificently during the Battle of Britain and thereafter. Despite Mr Farr’s statement, many Polish servicemen, at the end of the war, elected to remain in Britain, and were encouraged to do so. By that time Soviet Russia had annexed their country anyway and installed a Communist regime. There are many citizens with Polish ancestry located in this country and who now form part of Britain’s population.

Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne: Britain’s most decorated soldier. Has Mr Farr read my article on this famous Ulsterman and his connection with the Whitehaven family of Blair?

Certainly, Churchill made many errors during wartime. Show me a leader who, by his conduct claimed to be faultless and I will show you a liar.

Jackie ‘Chinese’ Fisher: one-time First Sea Lord under Churchill at the Admiralty in the First World War; created the concept of the dreadnought battleship before that war – Fisher had a ‘love-hate’ relationship with Churchill. For further enlightment on the Churchill/Fisher relationship, perhaps Mr Farr should read Castles of Steel, by Robert K. Massie.

Perhaps Mr Farr should have chosen military history as a preferred subject should he have been so fortunate, when young, to have been considered for tertiary education?

Surrender of Singapore: This was against Churchill’s orders and the fortress was prematurely surrendered by a weak and vacillating British Commander, Lieutenant- General Arthur Percival, acting against orders.

Finally, I refer to Mr Farr’s absurd comments about speaking German. We also use Latin, French, Norse, etc. words and phrases which have fallen into everyday usage in this country.

As Churchill himself may have said: Feci quod potui faciant meliora potentes (I have done what I could; let those who can do better).

Brian PARNABY

Ullock

Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk