As part of the on-going national dispute between the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and the Government over the proposed reform of firefighter pension schemes nationally, a further strike date has been announced.
This will take place on Wednesday 13th November between 10am and 2pm.
Other fire and rescue services have taken the step of recruiting members of the public to provide contingency cover during the strike periods.
North Yorkshire have not taken this step as a large percentage of their firefighters are retained (i.e. part-time or on-call), and many of them are not members of the FBU, because of this they they not included in the strike ballot and will be working as normal. These staff are fully trained operational staff.
As a result of this there will be many fire stations in North Yorkshire, particularly in the more rural areas, that are unaffected. In addition to these, we will be moving some fire engines so that they are closer to locations where crews will be striking to ensure there is fire cover in place across the whole area.
Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Andy Trowsdale said:
These arrangements have proved adequate in the recent strikes. However, during these strikes the Service did not experience any large incidents or high levels of calls. It is important to realise that there will be a reduced level of emergency cover [during the strike period], and it is especially important for the public to take extra care to keep themselves and their family safe.
