Planned cuts to funding for specialist teams who tackle fires at sea could compromise safety, chief fire officers have warned.
The Department of Transport has accepted a recommendation from the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) to discontinue the Maritime Incident Response Group (MIRG). Instead, commercial salvage operators will be encouraged to take up any requirement for offshore firefighting assessments.
The Maritime Incident response Group consists of 15 local authority fire and rescue service teams working in partnership with the MCA to provide an emergency fire and chemical incident response to ships at sea. The teams are made up of approximately 50 firefighters and officers who are specially trained and equipped to work at sea.
The Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) criticised the decision to discontinue the group, especially as increased numbers of passengers are expected in UK waters in the lead up to, and during, the London 2012 Olympics.
Association president, Lee Howell said: “I am extremely concerned at this decision. We are a nation of seafarers and to end an arrangement that has successfully provided a coordinated approach to fires on board ships off our coast is shortsighted, and may put the public at risk.
"Ending this arrangement will save a small amount of money but will leave a gap in our ability to protect people on board ships. We urge the Department for Transport to reconsider its position on this issue.”
Over the last five years, the average cost of the group has been £380,000 a year.
In a written Commons statement last week, transport under-secretary of state, Mike Penning, said that since it was it was established in 2006, the group had responded to just six fire incidents and had not had a significant impact on the outcome of any of those.
“Under the new arrangements, professional personnel will be deployed to an incident to make an assessment of the status of a fire and to provide advice on the best course of action and – as in many cases today – reassure port authorities that a ship can be safely accepted into a port so that shore based firefighters can attend to the fire,” said Mr Penning. “This approach recognises that international legislation already requires that all ships’ crews are trained and equipped to fight fires on ships.”
Steve Demetriou, CFOA lead officer on maritime operations, said: “The perception that all ships’ crew are trained to deal with and contain even moderate fires at sea has not been evidenced in a number of accident investigation reports over recent years. In addition any failure to contain a fire on a vessel at sea could have potentially disastrous consequences for the UK coastline and environment.”
