Scrapping deputy chief post led to balancing of books

His comments follow the release of the service’s 2019 annual report which showed it cost £3.8m. to run the service last year – 1% under budget.

While the budget did not allow for unforeseen expenses, it was able to balance the books using the savings from a service restructure, which saw the scrapping of the deputy chief fire officer role.

Trevor Queripel, who filled that post, retired in May last year and was not replaced. Instead a new rank of area manager was created.

Mr Le Page said the change meant its 69-person head count – which includes admin staff and ten retained firefighters in Herm – had remained the same, but removing a top pay grade staff member, resulted in an overall saving.

‘There is always a bit of apprehension when you are trying something new and there’s no going back, but I am pleased with the results,’ he said.

‘We have to cut our cloth as much as we can. We can still provide the service, but it’s a bit harder work.’

The service comes in on or very close to budget most years. Any ideas that come in during a year will often have to wait for the following year, as all money each year is accounted for ahead of time.

This presents challenges when it comes to dealing with serious protracted incidents, such as the Idlerocks fire.

If an incident lasted for longer than an hour, then extra firefighters might be needed, resulting in overtime payments.

‘We run with the absolute minimum manpower we are able to on a daily basis, so there is no spare capacity,’ he said.

The service is also trying to help save the States money. This has included working more closely with St John and responding to all life-threatening incidents. This has helped reduce St John’s workload and so reduce the cost of their contract with the States.

The year also saw two new pieces of equipment for the service – a turntable ladder costing £685,000 and a new 4x4 for £43,000.

Overall 982 calls were made to the fire service in 2019. Nearly half of them were false alarms. There were also 131 fire and 103 special service calls, like traffic collisions.

A total of 156 school visits were made, with presentations and demonstrations to 2,854 children.

Nearly 300 requests were made for home safety visits, most of which were carried out within the target of two weeks.

The service fitted 435 smoke detectors and 36 carbon monoxide detectors. This brings the 10-year total of detectors fitted to 5,171.

Fire & Rescue dealt with several big incidents in 2019.

In March they had to rescue a man who had fallen on his scaffolding in Vale.

In August firefighters had to wear breathing apparatus to tackle a fire in a block of St Peter Port flats.

Then in December they had to tackle a blaze at a workshop by Beaucette Marina and also a fire behind Forest Road Garage.