Fire Brigade Union says new CARP engines are ‘unsafe and unreliable’
Concerns have been raised about the safety of the new Combined Aerial Rescue Pumps used by South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Services.
The vehicles which cost around £2m have been condemned as ‘unsafe and unreliable’ according to the Fire Brigades Union in South Yorkshire.
Mr Gilliver from the Fire Brigade Union (FBU) said: “They’re constantly being repaired and a fire on an appliance had to be extinguished by crews. They’re appalling, they’re an absolute joke. We’re concerned for the safety of the crews going out on these vehicles. Management are saying these are teething problems, that’s simply not true. I’m an appliance driver with years of experience and yes, we’ve had teething problems before, but never to this level. One day I’m sure someone will be killed. They should come off the road, enough is enough, we need to get to the bottom of what’s going on with these vehicles. We are determined to rectify these issues.”
A spokesperson for the fire service said: “We have experienced a number of operational issues with our CARP appliances since they first became available in April. We are currently investigating three incidents which occurred in the past week. Our investigations into the issues reported since April show that some have been mechanical faults and some were due to operator error. Like the FBU, we are concerned about these issues and are working tirelessly to address them to keep the CARPs available as often as possible. The public of South Yorkshire are safer as a result of the CARPs being available since we have four in the service, compared to the three aerial platforms. CARPs are also immediately available upon first arrival at an incident, unlike the aerial platforms, and provide £1m per year in savings. We are determined to rectify these issues to ensure their ongoing availability to keep the public safe.”
Discussions into the fate of the appliances continues.
£30,000 fine for fire safety breach landlords
Two commercial property landlords in Manchester have been fined £30,000 for breaching fire safety regulations.
Suhail Sawar and Tariq Sawar were found guilty of the offences at Manchester City magistrates’ court.
An investigation had shown that the two multi occupancy properties in Derby Road had insufficient emergency lighting, fire alarms and a sufficient fire risk assessment had not been carried out.
Suhail Sawar was fined £17,500 and £3,365 costs, and his father, Tariq Sawar was fined £7,500 and ordered to pay £2,480 costs.
Peter O’Reilly from Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue said: “It was made clear to these two men that they alone were the responsible individuals for ensuring the fire safety of people in the respective buildings they owned. They comprehensively failed to do this, despite enforcement notices being issued.”
Huge blaze at Sheffield business premises
Thirty firefighters attended an incident at a building on Broadfield Road in Heeley, Sheffield on Sunday 2nd October.
The fire broke out at around 6.45pm and was attended by crews from Central, Mansfield Road and Lowedges.
A spokesman for South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “The fire broke through the roof space of the building and a massive amount of smoke was coming from the building, which is why some roads were closed. It is a two-storey building and gas and electricity supplies were isolated for the safety of our firefighters. No-one is believed to have been in the building at the time. This was a large fire and firefighters worked very hard to quickly bring the blaze under control. An investigation will be carried out into the cause of the fire in due course.”
Nearby roads were closed during the incident due to the plume of smoke coming from the fire but most had re-opened by 9.15pm.
An investigation into the cause of the fire will be carried out.