Fire cover set to be increased in booming Manchester city centre

"We are proposing to ensure our resources are used in the most effective and efficient way."

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Fire cover in booming Manchester city centre is set to be bolstered. But to help pay for it two outlying areas would be switched from full time stations to day-time crewing only.

Major changes to existing specialist rescue stations at Leigh and Ashton are also planned. All the proposals are subject to public consultation which begins today and ends on July 10th.

Manchester currently has 800 high rise blocks as city-centre living continues to increase at pace. It is proposed that the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service fleet of fire engines will be increased from 50 to 52 with the two extra appliances going to Manchester Central and Moss Side Stations, which would then have two each.

The stations of Offerton in Stockport and Sale In Trafford, would change to day-crewing as they both have a low level of night time incidents. Crews would be on the stations from 8.30am to 6pm. From 6pm to 8.30am they would be on call, getting to the stations within four minutes from their nearby homes.

A report says of the plans to increase cover in Manchester city centre: "This is in reposne to the on-going transformation of our city-region, particularly in and around central Manchester itself, where increasing numbers of high rise buildings are combining with some ageing infrastructure and existing older buildings to increase the risk of fires spreading and being more difficult to put out.

"The additional crew members in place alongside the new fire engines will also increase capacity for prevention and protection...in some of our highest risk areas."

The proposals would increase response time at Manchester Central station by 17 seconds from 6 minutes 16 seconds to 5 minutes 59 seconds. Moss Side would improve by 18 seconds to 6 minutes.

Offerton had only 104 night time life at risk incidents in the last three years; and Sale 146. The second and third lowest in the service. The day-crewing proposals would increase response times for the Offerton area by one minute 26 seconds to 8 minutes seven seconds; and in Sale by one minute ten seconds to 8 minutes 55 seconds.

There are currently six other ‘day crewed’ stations across Greater Manchester in areas of lower risk and lower demand especially during the night time.

County Fire Officer, Dave Russel, said: "Our Fire Cover and Special Appliance Reviews set out the changes we are proposing to ensure our resources are used in the most effective and efficient way. Based on extensive data and insight, we believe the package of measures proposed are the best way for us to build a stronger, more resilient fire and rescue service while maintaining the highest levels of safety and lowest levels of risk as we protect our communities, work together and save lives."

A review also recommends a more flexible and resilient approach for GMFRS's technical rescue capability operating from ‘Enhanced Rescue Stations’ at Ashton and Leigh. The new capability would combine the role of a frontline firefighter with an enhanced rescue technician, meaning crews would be able to respond to every type of incident, including more complex scenarios, providing greater resilience.

Deputy Mayor for Policing, Crime, Criminal Justice and Fire, Kate Green, said: "Greater Manchester is a diverse, growing and ever-changing city-region with a complex infrastructure. This means that our fire and rescue service has to constantly review where its resources are located and how they are used to manage the risk and demands we face and ensure that firefighter and public safety remain at the forefront of any plans.

"Taking the steps set out in this fire cover and special appliance review consultation will allow GMFRS to further build our resilience, capacity and capabilities and bring savings of approximately £0.340 million a year, which will be reinvested to increase funding for other priority areas in the service such as prevention, protection and people services."

GMFRS currently has specialist rescue teams based at fire stations in Leigh near Wigan, and Ashton in Tameside. The Technical Response Units respond to complex and unusual emergencies, including intricate road traffic collisions, water rescues, entrapment, rescues from height, collapsed buildings, trench rescues and more. Each of these stations also has an ordinary fire engine that is crewed separately to the TRU.

A report says: "The current staffing model has its limitations that can, at times, reduce the availability of staff with the required skills to support an enhanced rescue response. We therefore propose to introduce a new operating model and staffing structure for this capability and create Enhanced Rescue Stations in Greater Manchester.

"Our plan involves extending the capability and skillsets across all staff on these stations, increasing the resilience and flexibility of the staffing model, investing in training, equipment which will support the retention and attraction of staff.

"Each Enhanced Rescue Station would have two fire engines and 44 firefighters in total (compared with the current 56 at each station) who are able to provide both a firefighting and enhanced rescue response at any time. While this is an overall reduction in staff from 112 to 88 across both stations, the new model means that more staff will be trained and equipped to deal with complex rescue incidents.

"By having more firefighters who are trained for all types of response, their skills can be used more flexibly. The new model provides 16 enhanced rescue trained staff on every shift across four appliances an increase of six from the current 10, to support protracted incidents within Greater Manchester and national resilience deployments."

To read the consultation document and for any further information about how the proposals were reached, visit the Fire Cover Review 2023 website.

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