'If our fire station going part-time increases risk, that's unacceptable' - Fleetwood MP Lorraine Beavers

Fleetwood residents are being urged to voice their views over proposed changes to how the town’s fire station operates.

Lancashire Fire and Rescue wants to change the hours in which Fleetwood Fire Station is fully manned, switching to a flexible system where firefighters are on call from 8am to 6pm.

And that could increase the response time by up to four minutes.

Blackpool North and Fleetwood MP Lorraine Beavers believes any risk to the time it takes for the fire service to respond to a call is unacceptable especially in an area that already faces huge challenges

She said: “I know many of you are worried about the proposed change from full-time crew to flexible-day crew, meaning the fire station won't be manned in the evening or over night.

I have already been in contact with Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service and the Fire Brigades Union and this week I'm talking to frontline staff to understand exactly what these changes might mean but I want to hear from you to.

“You are the people these changes will affect, our community is the one that will be impacted and I want to make sure that people in charge hear your voice on these proposals.

“Any increase in risk is unacceptable and our area faces multiple challenges, including poor connectivity, that need to be considered properly.

“That's why I'm working to understand in detail what these changes mean, and what else should be considered.

“I'll be meeting with Lancs Fire & Rescue Service and the Fire Brigades Union soon, plus working in Parliament to understand how other areas have been impacted and how we can better protect our fire service moving forwards.”

What is a fexible-day system?

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service is looking to switch to a Flexible Day Crewing system where firefighters would provide cover from the station during the day - from 8am to 6pm - and respond from their home addresses within five minutes of the station, outside those hours.

That means it wouldn’t be manned during the night from 6pm to 8am and crews would operated in the same way as on-call firefighters.

Fleetwood Fire Station is on Radcliffe Road and has two fire engines. Under the current system, there is one fire engine crewed full time and the second is an on-call engine crewed by on-call firefighters.

Under the new proposal the full time crew would move to flexible day crewing for a trial period.

LFRS believe it is the best system to meet Fleetwood’s community risk and incident levels and would be completely staffed by local people.

A change to FDC will increase the time it takes to respond to emergencies during the evenings (approximately four minutes) but does not affect ability to meet response standards.