By HELEN COMPSON

Published at 09:54, Friday, 27 March 2009

TYNEDALE’S fire service could be devastated by European regulations containing new working time restrictions.

The spectre of every fire station closing down due to a lack of availability of retained firemen hangs over the Tyne Valley.

The European Parliament recently voted to end the UK’s opt-out of the Working Time Directive, which currently allows UK employees to choose to work more than 48 hours a week.

Crucially, an exemption negotiated for Britain’s emergency services in 2003 could be withdrawn, too.

If the 48 hour ceiling, which already applies in many other European countries, is enforced, that figure will include the time a worker spends on-call – even if he is at home, in bed.

Tynedale’s retained fire services based in Hexham, Haltwhistle, Prudhoe, Allendale, Bellingham, Haydon Bridge and Ponteland would all be affected.

Staff usually fulfil their fire duties alongside full-time jobs, carrying pagers and remaining on-call for up to 120 hours a week, waiting for infrequent emergency call-outs.

Northumberland’s chief fire officer Brian Hesler said:“The restrictions would leave me with only two options.

“One is to cease providing the service in those areas reliant on retained fire fighters, because they will not be able to deliver the job.

“The other is to replace the retained crews with whole-time crews.

“In Northumberland, that would increase the payroll from £10m to between £20m and £30m.”

Those figures were insupportable, particularly in the current economic climate, he added.

Besides the men on the front line, the Working Time Directive would have grave implications for senior officers, too.

Those providing ‘silver cover’ – ready to step in and take charge of major incidents whatever the hour – worked on shifts of 24-hour availability.

Managers at Mr Hesler’s level provided ‘gold cover’, which meant they were permanently on-call.

“We wouldn’t be able to provide the round-the-clock emergency service that we do without these arrangements,” he said.

“I can’t see a way of resolving this problem.”

He hoped the heavy lobbying of MEPs that was going on behind the scenes would provide a way ahead.

Hexham’s MP Peter Atkinson said he was writing to the Minister to make him aware of how damaging the changes would be to Tynedale.

“I am genuinely concerned about this latest development. Rural areas will be worst hit by this change as many of the fire stations in the Hexham constituency rely on retained officers.”

Allendale was a perfect example of a station that worked well under the current arrangement, but would be badly affected by the changes.

Its staff tackled an average of one fire a week and took part in training exercises for around seven hours a week. However, they were on-call for around 120 hours a week.

Mr Atkinson said: “It is easy to see how imposing a 48 hour on-call limit will impact on the service – the same level of cover could only be secured by increasing staffing, the cost of which would be prohibitive.”

Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk