Staffordshire: decides on the use of reduced fire crews

Staffordshire Police Fire and Crime Commissioner Ben Adams received an update on the progress of a pilot project at a public performance meeting.

Senior staff said that during the 16 months of the trial, three-man crews had attended 636 incidents, including building fires and crashes, adding that in August a three-man team attended a house fire in Lichfield, during which firefighters entered the building to rescue the resident .

Deputy Chief Fire Officer Glynn Luznyj said that while the service was still aiming to have at least four firefighters on board the call equipment, crews of three were deployed when this was not possible.

It had led to an increase in the availability of on-call engines, he said, with crews of three arriving to incidents on average nine minutes and 45 seconds earlier than the next fully crewed aircraft.

Mr Luznyj added: “This is all about improving the capabilities for our firefighters to intervene faster and earlier, while mobilizing the nearest appliances as normal.”