• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

MayorWatch

London News and Comment

  • NEWS
  • Twitter

Official figures show fire brigade beating expected response times

November 3, 2014 - Martin Hoscik@MayorWatch

two_fire_enginesAverage fire engine response times in some boroughs are more than 20 seconds faster than expected according to internal London Fire Brigade figures provided to London Assembly members.

Last year Mayor Boris Johnson pushed through proposals to close 10 fire stations and axe 14 fire engines despite opposition from firefighters, local AMs, MPs, councils and members of the fire authority.

Critics said that the closures would worsen the brigade’s performance and risked putting lives at risk, claims denied by fire commissioner Ron Dobson.

A legal challenge to the Mayor’s decision brought by a number of councils was rejected, leaving local taxpayers facing tens of thousands of pounds in legal bills.

The performance figures, issued to AMs ahead of a Q&A with Dobson and fire authority chair James Cleverly on Wednesday, show that in 21 boroughs crews met or beat predicted attendance times for the first engine.

The projected attendance times were first published as part of a public consultation on the station closures and resulting job losses.

Westminster saw the best performance with crews attending in 5 minutes 19 seconds versus a predicted response of five minutes 48, while in Camden and Greenwich expected response times were beaten by 22 seconds.

However in Hillingdon attendance times averaged 6 minutes 41 against a prediction of 6 minutes 16 and in Havering crews missed a 5 minutes 40 prediction by 12 seconds.

Despite slower than expected performance in some boroughs, average London-wide response times were 5 minutes 29 seconds versus the predicted five minutes 32 seconds.

In nine boroughs – Barnet, Croydon, Enfield, Haringey, Hammersmith and Fulham, Harrow, Newham, Richmond upon Thames and Sutton – response times in the current year were faster than in 2012/13.

But in six boroughs response times breached the brigade’s target of 6 minutes for the first appliance to arrive on site.

Despite all boroughs meeting the 8 minute target for the second appliance, average response times were worse than predictions at 6 minutes 51 versus an expected 6 minutes 31.

Insiders say the slower than modelled second appliance response times are due to the brigade withdrawing fire engines from some stations for use by private sector contingency crews hired to cover strikes.

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

RECENT UPDATES

Tube and rail users to benefit from Oyster weekly fares cap

Mayor and TfL call on ministers to help plug funding gap

Tube to get full mobile phone coverage from 2024

TfL says Direct Vision Standard is already making HGVs safer for London road users




POPULAR

City Hall to move to Docklands as Mayor seeks to raise £55m for frontline services

‘Concern’ over TfL’s ability to deliver major projects in wake of Crossrail cost overruns

City Hall halts London Overground ticket office closures but many will still see opening hours reduced

Transport for London confirms bus cuts will go ahead despite passenger opposition

GOT A STORY?

As the original London news and scrutiny site we've been casting an eye over the capital's public services and politicians since 1999.

 

Many of our top stories started with a tip-off from a reader - if you've got something you'd like us to cover get in touch and we'll do the rest.

Stay In Touch

  • E-mail
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2022 · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.