Night-time fire crew cuts in Harrogate approved by commissioner

North Yorkshire's police, fire and crime commissioner Zoë Metcalfe has today confirmed her decision on the plan which she insisted will keep residents safe.

She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the move is based on "extensive" risk assessments and has not been driven by government funding cuts which union officials say have left the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service in a "horrendous position".

"We are not cost cutting," commissioner Metcalfe said, "... and I'm very assured that residents will be kept safe.

"I have also already said there will be no stone unturned in my fight for fairer funding."

Commissioner Metcalfe also said the changes would allow for investment in fire prevention efforts, as well as the service's on-call model which currently means only five out of 38 fire stations in North Yorkshire are crewed 24 hours a day.

Harrogate fire station currently has one fire engine which can respond to all emergencies and a smaller tactical response vehicle that both operate around the clock.

The smaller vehicle will now be replaced by a larger fire engine, but it will only be crewed during the day.

The changes were proposed by the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service itself and will be reviewed after three years.

Jonathan Dyson, the county's chief fire officer, said emergencies are less likely to occur during the night and that replacing the tactical response vehicle will "allow us to respond to a full range of incidents across the peak demand period".

"That means the people of Harrogate are getting a better response with qualified people who have greater capabilities in equipment," he said.

"We currently have a model where we will always cover the greatest areas of risk and population so if Harrogate crews are already committed to an incident, our control would immediately then start to move other appliances into that area.

"This happens across the county and will continue."