Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service officials have denied union claims that a local station is "unable to properly serve" its community, and that firefighters from the nearest station did not attend a fatal fire over the weekend. Union bosses spoke out after a fire claimed the life of a 91-year-old man in Kirkby-in-Ashfield.
The fire in Greenholme Close started in the early hours of Saturday (March 19). In an official statement on the day, the fire service said firefighters from the Hucknall, Mansfield, Alfreton, Arnold, and Chesterfield fire stations responded to the call.
But in the wake of the tragic incident, the Fire Brigades Union said firefighters from the nearest fire station, in Ashfield, did not attend. On the day of the fire, Ashfield Fire Station would usually be crewed by a retailed crew, or with on-call firefighters, it's understood.
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The union claimed that, due to staffing shortages, this was not possible. Members also said that “standby” cover was sent from Hucknall, which meant that Ashfield essentially had wholetime cover for that shift - with full-time firefighters on hand to respond to emergencies. The union claimed the Ashfield station was "unable to properly serve" its community.
However, the fire service moved to clarify that the first crew to arrive at this incident came from the Ashfield Fire Station. The emergency service also rejected claims about staff shortages.
In response to the claims, Richard Cooper, station manager for the Ashfield District, told Nottinghamshire Live: "Our thoughts are with the family and friends of this man, and the local community, at this very sad time.
"Responding to emergencies as quickly as possible will always be our priority. We and neighbouring fire services use a system which ensures that we constantly provide the best possible fire cover that we can.
“This can mean that our firefighters and fire engines move to different places to ensure we can respond quickly to any emergency. The nearest fire engine and crew will always attend and the first crew to arrive at this incident came from our Ashfield Fire Station. We had a crew from Hucknall positioned there at the time who were at the scene in six minutes."
Firefighters have been in the area providing reassurance and offering safety advice.
Before the fire service responded to the claims, Mark Stilwell, Fire Brigades Union brigade secretary in Nottinghamshire, said: “First and foremost our thoughts are with the friends and family of the man who tragically lost his life. In recent years the fire and rescue service has been cut to the bone locally, with a cut of over 13 percent when compared to 2016.
"This has left a patchwork service that is unable to properly serve the community. This incident has highlighted some of the real gaps that these cutbacks are causing, and it should serve as a wake-up call to our decision-makers: the longer this goes on the more our communities are likely to suffer.”
In a previous fatal fire in Ashfield, two people died after the emergency services were called to Forster Street in the town just before 7pm on Saturday, January 29. Crews from the Hucknall, Mansfield, Eastwood, Chesterfield and Alfreton fire stations got the fire under control and extinguished it. However, at the time, there was no mention of Ashfield firefighters having attended.
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