Last Friday, Bexhill MP, Dr Kieran Mullan MP, visited Bexhill Fire Station to meet Chief Fire Officer, Mark Matthews and senior leaders of the East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service (ESFRS) to discuss how the service has adapted to meet the priorities of new building fire regulations following the Grenfell Tower fire and changing fire risks.
Increasingly their work involves preventative measures, such as advising public building owners on their fire and evacuation risk as well as visiting more vulnerable members of the community to help prevent accidents in the home. Regulation following the Grenfell disaster now requires Fire and Rescue services to assess risks of high-rise buildings. East Sussex has the second highest number of high and medium rise blocks outside of London so new regulations have placed additional demands on the local fire service. But the funding model doesn’t well match all the additional work this creates locally.
In addition to prevention work, ESFRS regularly supports the police and ambulance services in rescue and support operations such as helping to access homes to move patients, attending road traffic accidents and dealing with flooding incidents and rescues. They also take the lead in Command Control at major incidents.
During his visit, Kieran spoke to on-call fire officers who had just returned from dealing with a flooding incident. The officers showed Kieran the wide variety of kit they need to carry on each appliance to respond to the wide range of incidents they are called to. They explained how they regularly train and learn new skills to respond to major and minor fire and rescue incidents. For example, the Bexhill fire crew have a specially trained rope rescue team.
Speaking after the visit Kieran said “It was good to spend the morning with the Bexhill Fire and Rescue team and to talk to CFO Mark Matthews and his officers about the challenges involved in running a service which is constantly required to adapt to changes in law and how we live. The work they do is essential in protecting and saving lives as well as in supporting the other emergency services. I have assured them of my ongoing support for fair funding for the ESFRS to ensure they can continue to deliver their essential life-saving services for our communities.”
Chief Fire Officer Mark Matthews said, “The Bexhill Crew, Managers and I genuinely appreciated both the time given and the approach taken by Dr Kieran Mullan MP, who ensured crews felt listened to and was very receptive to the challenges the Fire Rescue Service has in delivering an effective community offer to those we are entrusted to serve.”
