By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter
Full-time fire cover will be brought back to Ashfield Fire Station in November, five years after it was controversially reduced to part-time only.
In 2018, Nottinghamshire Fire Authority decided to remove full-time crewing in favour of on-call only cover at night, in a move criticised by local politicians and residents.
But in July the authority approved plans to reinstate the 24-hour crew cover.
The move will reduce call out attendance times from the station by 48 seconds on average and the plans are expected be in place by the end of November 2023.
But Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service said it would need 12 extra crew members to bring back the cover at a cost of £600,000.
The service said this is “not viable” due to finances.
Instead, firefighters will be moved from other stations to facilitate the plans.
But the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has raised concerns over the proposals, which mean there will be a “greater number of occasions” where fire engines are crewed by four firefighters instead of five.
One member of the union said the plans would lead to “serious and dangerous shortfalls in the crewing of other appliances”.
As part of the plans, four firefighters will be promoted at a cost of £36,000 – but the FBU says this will remove staff from fire engines.
In an update given to members in a fire authority meeting on September 22, Damien West, Assistant Chief Fire Officer said: “We have plans in place to look at the best use of resources within the current establishment to make sure we can return Ashfield by the end of November.
“The good news is that it is all under way and on track for that implementation of full-time 24-hour crewing.”
He added that the service is also recruiting up to 40 firefights next year.
Mr West said: “We are continuing work which looks at improvements to Ashfield Fire Station to make sure it is fit for purpose.
“It will feel and look like a nice new station.”
In response to the safety concerns raised, Mr West added that there would be additional training for incident commanders.
He said: “We will continue to monitor for a period of six and 12 months after the implementation of whole-time crewing to report any impact.”
Councillor Jason Zadrozny, leader of Ashfield District Council, said after the meeting that the decision would save lives.
He said: “I feel very emotional about this decision that we believe will save lives. I would like to thank the vast majority of residents for actively backing our campaign.
“This was a campaign that will lead to lower fire response times.
“When the decision to close our fire station at night was made – we were told it was irreversible.
“We never gave up though and made the strong case for reopening the fire station full-time.”
Chief Fire Officer Craig Parkin said it was a “good news story”.
He said: “I knew it was going to be a challenge for November but it looks like we’re delivering on that.
“This was a data-led decision around risks to communities. I’m looking forward to seeing the changes at Ashfield.”
