The Fire Service

Hallmark March 1988

Report by County Councillor Denis Hart

Fire Brigade In the last edition our Editor voiced his fear that the County Council was aiming at saving money by cutting our fire service which is, in fact, impossible even if we wished because these are set by H.M. Inspector of Fire Services, and what in fact is happening is that the Chief Fire Officer after much discussion with his staff and unions has asked for a major reorganisation to over-come HMIFS criticisms and lack of volunteer manpower. At Risborough, for example, there are two elderly standard appliances which cannot leave the station without the standard full crew, and since they do not have two crews the second is used for practice and polishing for displays, but could be used for a fire. As with the police, the fire brigade is under the operational control of its own chief, and when the professional experts call for changes, we have no choice but to listen.

The strategical report is a complex document, and the Council formed a special panel to look into it, appointing me as its Vice Chairman and until we have examined all the recommendations, which will take us into June at least, we have recommended only a few organisational changes pressed by HMIFS. At all the Stations named there are not enough crews to man the appliances they have, and at Wendover, for example, they cannot take out even one appliance, at others they have no practice facilities so crews cannot be trained. To assist with spares etc., many years ago we adopted a standard appliance throughout the County, and this certainly saved us money, but it must have a standard trained crew, costs about £110,000 and is beginning to look a little old-fashioned when compared with other nearby fire services, so we are looking at newer types of appliances such as the Landrover type so much favoured by the fighting services whose fires are probably worse than most of ours, and a very interesting appliance favoured by the fire service operating in the area of the Fire College which is certainly as good as our appliances, will fit into a smaller station, can get through narrow lanes such as those around here, has four wheel drive, and costs about £30,000. In fire speed is of the essence, measured in minutes, so an appliance which can arrive more quickly can put a fire out when slower vehicles are still getting there to be faced with a much worse fire. Many fires are simple chimney fires, which cost as much to turn out a standard appliance as a major blaze, and the householder who can be compelled to pay if he has been careless would I feel surely be happier with the newer type, as would the farmer, both types being what we have had in this village.

There is a wide variety of specialist vehicles, including those used for garage or motorway fires, for high speed hoselaying to the nearest hydrant, important for a big fire,; to refreshments for exhausted firemen at such fires, and the aim is to locate those where crews can be found, as is proposed for Risborough. We are looking at all girl crews and perhaps stations, with hours which might suit the ladies currently excluded. Nothing will be excluded from our review, and our only criterion will be greater efficiency, but whatever we recommend will be subject to the consideration of our fire chiefs.

'' Rubbish "! The last time I wrote about the Council's plans for your rubbish I was berated by one correspondent for our trying to run it at least cost to you, although if I had followed his advice, I believe many more would have objected, but since major decisions have been made concerning rubbish I must outline them for you, whilst giving our Editor copies of the detail for those more interested. The County organises waste collection and disposal and WDC act as our agents in doing the local job, as they do for collecting the rates and putting salt on the roads. The Act of 1974 has been introduced over the years in digestible sections the latest three coming into full force next month, where the various types of waste and who pays for it are defined. There are some curious definitions, because Village Hall waste is free, but is not 100% free for pubs, similarly waste from religious communities, royal palaces, campsites and penal institutions is free.

Collection charges are imposed for waste which does not fit into the standard sacks issued, for dead pets, garden waste, caravan sites, hospitals and schools, together with certain types of waste from royal palaces, prisons etc., so there may be problems ahead. Our general objective is to make waste pay for itself, but not to be so difficult that folk would rather dump it at the roadside as so many do now because that costs more to collect, so it is something of a tight-rope, and although we dispose of more waste per head than the national average, and it costs us more for the same reason, it only costs the domestic ratepayer about two thirds of the national average, so despite my critic we are not far from getting it right.

There are some new definitions, aimed at stopping builders etc., from dumping their waste free, and similarly with toxic or dangerous waste which is more common than one might imagine coming from hospitals containing needles, syringes, radioactive substances and so on. Sewage, tunnelling products, and waste from aircraft are not handled free, primarily because of the cost of dealing with it, although one citizen who put a block of ice dropped from a Boeing 707 in his deepfreeze to preserve the evidence was dismayed to learn what it was, and pay for its disposal. Waste from photographic operations is often both valuable since it contains silver and can be very dangerous since it contains both carcinogenic and highly corrosive substances which destroy normal waste pipes. Paintworks, laundries, signwriters, and oil or its derivatives all attract prohibitions, as does clothes cleaning solvents, so if you wash anything in carbon tetrachloride to get stains out beward what you do with it. Some types of waste are extraordinarily difficult to dispose of, and costly which is why we try to balance the budget with the costs so that the fewest are affected, but we must recognise that mercury, nuclear contaminated materials (e.g. from hospital X Ray rooms) and AIDS contaminated waste have got to be disposed of safely which means handling by someone.