The chief fire officer at Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue has said proposed changes to how it operates ‘will be a real improvement’.
It is proposing to make Spalding a ‘day-crewed, Monday to Friday’ station.
Specialist services, including boat and water rescue teams, would be concentrated at the full-time premises proposed to be Lincoln South, Boston and Grantham.
Firefighters were told of the plans last week and The Voice told a public announcement was due later last week.
Speaking at Lincolnshire County Council’s Community Safety Scrutiny Committee last week, chief fire officer Mark Baxter said he ‘hoped’ public engagement would begin in the ‘next few days’, but this paper understands it has now been delayed.
He was questioned at the meeting by Coun Martin Hill, who appeared to speak about the proposed changes, though they weren’t included in documents submitted to the committee.
Coun Hill particularly asked about some firefighters seeing a decrease in salary. If the proposal is put in, it would likely mean full-time firefighters based at Spalding earning less as they would not work higher paid night shifts.
“There will be some happy, some less happy,” Mr Baxter responded. “We think it’s going to be a real improvement in regards to how we respond to our communities and will add a significant amount of resilience and establishment to our full time cadre.
“We recognise in the short term there will be a change of pay salary for some of our personnel but the overwhelming feedback we’re getting is that having a better work/life balance is hugely valuable for our firefighters.
“Not having the additional commitment to live by the station or in one of our accommodation pods is really welcomed from many of our wholetime firefighters.
“We will link in with any pay protection requirements that are part of our legal duties if we do change any shift patterns.
“We will absolutely minimise any financial issue for our firefighters but the overwhelming initial feedback has been really positive.
“It will give us a far more resilient, sustainable and quicker response model across the county of Lincolnshire.”
Coun Hill also asked about Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue’s recent struggle to recruit on call firefighters in recent years.
Mr Baxter said: “We’ve focussed recruitment campaigns in hard to reach stations where we want to ensure we have sustainability.
“We’ve had some really successful outcomes of that.
“Our on call are our backbone of response and they’re an absolutely essential part of the way we respond to our communities. We will continue to invest in hitting those recruitment targets.”
