Dedicated specialist fire crew to set up in Sunderland after Grenfell Tower disaster

The proposals, which will initially run as a pilot scheme, will see a dedicated team appointed to run the aerial ladder platform (ALP) based at Marley Park Community Fire Station.

The 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, which caused 72 deaths, has been cited among the reasons for the change, which it is hoped will ensure specialist equipment gets to blazes faster.

“Had we not had to make [previous] cuts we had to make, this may not have been something we would have brought to the authority,” said Peter Heath, assistant chief fire officer (ACFO) at Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service (TWFRS).

“The decision at the time was sound, but times have changed.

“The impact of Grenfell Tower and a number of other fires in tall buildings has brought into focus the need for speed and weight of attack and the need for the right resources.”

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Heath, who joined the service in January, was speaking at a meeting of the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Authority, which was held by videolink and broadcast via YouTube.

TWFRS currently operates its three ALPs under a dual staffing arrangement, meaning they are manned by crews with their own regular fire engine, and only sent out on request or for pre-identified buildings.

According to a report for fire chiefs, the existing system has ‘resulted in occasions where a pumping appliance has been at an incident and the special appliance requested has not been readily available’.

It is hoped the pilot scheme will reduce the risk of an ALP crew being delayed attending a fire in a tall building because they have already been dispatched to an incident.

Bosses also approved a second trial to introduce another crew at West Denton Community Fire Station, where the existing team also dual crews a Services Incident Command Unit used to respond to the most significant incidents.

“The proposals reflect an opportunity for the fire authority to reinvest in the frontline in a way it has not had for a long time,” said ACFO Heath.

“[Previously] we’ve had to bring options which have, in the main, been about reducing things.”

He added: “We’re now in a different place, we have some money we can reinvest.”

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