Fire Service provide a first-class service (but are overstaffed)

Saturday 27th February 2010, 3:00PM GMT.

From John Dix.
I WAS delighted to read the spirited defence of the Fire Service by Craig Channing of the Fire Service Association.

These splendid public servants provide a first-class service to the Island, as demonstrated by their prompt attendance to deal with fires all over the Island.

However, I was amazed to discover that the service employs 72 uniformed members, of whom 52 are operational. How can anyone justify the employment of 20 staff to manage and organise 52 productive employees – a ratio of almost one back room employee for every 2.5 employees who deliver a vital service?

Does any local business have anything like this ratio of managers to productive employees?

This highlights the problem we have in trying to reduce the expenditure of the States – the ratio of non-productive to front-line, service-delivering staff is just too high to sustain.

In this instance, I would suggest that a 50% reduction in the backroom staff could be achieved without any impact on the delivery of vital services. This would reduce the salary bill by approximately 15%, which applied across the whole of the public services, and could go a long way to reducing the £50 million annual black hole in the public finances.

I look forward to the response from the Fire Service Association justifying the employment of all their members.

1
HappyChappy

February 27, 2010 at 4:34 pm

I think some people should do research before putting pen to paper!

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2
MyView

February 27, 2010 at 9:08 pm

I assume from your comments Mr Dix that you have extensive knowledge of running a Fire Service? Do you know exactly what duties the back room staff carry out? I assume you appreciate that they provide a 24hr sevrice so overheads are likely to higher than a typical business?

It amazes me how some people think they are fit to start throwing comments around like this without any prior knowledge.

I have no idea whether the overheads the Fire Service carry are needed or not, but I wouldn’t dare to make the comments you have without having some background knowledge..

I suggest you back up your comments with some sound research before demanding a response from the Fire Service.

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3
PJG

March 1, 2010 at 2:03 pm

Why cant the fire engine be used to water the islands plants during dry periods.
Be seen doing something useful while waiting for a fire.
I have a holiday home abroad, the local fire service fill up my swimming pool every year, for a fee! Cheaper for me than the mains meter

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4
TRADESMAN

March 1, 2010 at 5:53 pm

They work so hard,but not so long ago lots of firemen had 2nd jobs.not that they needed to,but because they had so much time off,they could easily fit in another job.and before you start crying no way.i can name an awful lot who worked on the side.s yes,the service is and always has been top heavy.time for a change methinks.

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5
428 CJ

March 2, 2010 at 7:39 pm

Some interesting numbers highlighted by Mr Dix. If you consider the centralised States’ HR, Treasury and Property Management services theoretically providing support to the Fire Service these statistics look even stranger.

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6
Face Palm

March 2, 2010 at 11:06 pm

PJG,
A fire appliance can’t be used to “water plants” because the firefighting water tank needs to be kept full, so that the vehicle is immediately available to respond to an emergency incident.
It takes several minutes to refill the tank from a fire hydrant and to have to do that before mobilising to an incident could cost lives.
The same goes for filling swimming pools. The Fire Service has one water carrier and it is kept full in readiness for an emergency incident.
Perhaps you don’t see the Fire and Rescue Service “doing something useful while waiting for a fire”, but I can assure you that your Service has plenty to do to keep itself busy in readiness for not only fires, but also sea rescues, road traffic collisions, incidents involving hazardous materials, cliff rescues, flooding, rescues at height, animal rescues, etc, while also educating and advising Islanders in matters of fire safety.

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7
thorpey

March 6, 2010 at 5:14 pm

Of course they do a second job because they have plenty of time off! I’m sure they would rather be enjoying that time off rather than doing extra hours to pay for lifes neccessities, and remember they are doing a full time job as well. Perhaps if it wasn’t so expensive living here they wouldn’t have to. I know they don’t sit around waiting for calls, or playing snooker, those days are long gone. Perhaps those who knock or have no idea should pay a visit to the station and find out first hand what does actually happen in a modern fire service.

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