7:41pm Monday 1st February 2010
By James Rush
Union officials will challenge any decisions which they say could harm the ability of firefighters to protect the public as West Yorkshire fire chiefs propose a recruitment freeze.
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority will be asked on Friday to approve a suspension of whole-time recruitment until further notice due to financial pressures.
A report to its personnel and training committee states the service has sufficient staff to meet operational requirements and this is likely to remain the same for some time.
Last month the Telegraph & Argus exclusively reported how fire chiefs had been discussing how to make savings of between £11 million and £20 million by 2013/14 without harming front-line services.
But Mark Wilson, West Yorkshire secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said: “There’s people leaving the fire service all the time.
“We have done quite a lot of work rearranging how we deliver the fire service in West Yorkshire, but ultimately with natural wastage, there’s going to be a point where there’s not enough people and they will have to recruit again.”
Mr Wilson said the union had been satisfied so far with the other changes made as the service is restructured.
But he said: “Certainly, we will seek to challenge the situation wherever delivery of the services to the public or firefighter safety would be compromised by the changes.”
The report to the committee states: “It is important to stress that there will be no negative impact on service delivery during this period of non-recruitment.”
A West Yorkshire Fire Service spokesman said: “It has always been, and will continue to be, the authority’s prime concern to protect public and firefighter safety.”
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