It is increasingly difficult for the fire service to quickly reach a fire with sufficient crew. Kees Jong – chief officer of the Security Region and team commander of West Friesland – is concerned. “The number and availability of people is decreasing and the mindset is changing. It’s a fragile system.”
Tight on the fire trucks. It is a scenario that could become more common in the near future. Kees Jong is concerned about the employability of the local fire brigades. “Especially during the day it is tight. The number of volunteer firefighters is decreasing. In almost all cases we can just turn out with enough people, but sometimes that doesn’t work. And they have to come from further afield. That’s the honest story. Nothing to the detriment of the volunteer firefighters, by the way, because they always do their very best.”
Scaled up
On Friday afternoon, June 2, just before two o’clock in the afternoon, a lot of beepers go off in West Friesland. Rode: a house fire in Onderdijk. It is quickly scaled up, so that two fire trucks are expected, of actually 6, but at least 4 people. It turns out to be quite a challenge to get them to Onderdijk. The Wervershoof fire station cannot turn out because there is no commander available. Medemblik also initially does not have enough volunteers to turn out. The same applies to the groups of Andijk, Nibbixwoud, Zwaag and Abbekerk. The fire stations of Enkhuizen and Stede Broec are on their way to Onderdijk with their specialist units and are therefore no longer available in their own service area.
In the end, Medemblik is still available and they are helped by extinguishing groups from Westwoud, Hem/Venhuizen and a car full of professional firefighters from Hoorn. “From Hoorn to Onderdijk, that is easily half an hour’s drive. Not an ideal situation,” says Jong. “It also makes the people who are hard at work there nervous when they have to wait for reinforcements.”
Not salvageable
In the end, the house cannot be saved, but the neighboring houses in Onderdijk are spared by the efforts. “And fortunately there were no casualties. The fact that we arrived a little later had no effect on the fight in this case.”
“Many volunteer firefighters work remotely and can’t or don’t want to be available all the time”
He notices that a change of mentality is taking place at the 52 posts in North Holland North, 18 of which are in West Friesland. “Previously, the local baker and butcher were part of the volunteer fire brigade and they were always available. It was a big deal for those people way of life. Now that is more difficult. Many volunteer firefighters work remotely and can’t or don’t want to be available all the time.”
It is a social problem, which the fire service also has to contend with. “They make different choices, or they don’t get the freedom from the employer. Or stop after a few years. The culture is shifting. We work with a free intake profile, where preparedness is not guaranteed and the availability of sufficient personnel can vary. That’s a fragile system.”
Shorter training
The fire service is trying to combat the decline in manpower and availability, including through a regional recruitment and selection programme. “This has been very successful for a number of posts over the past year. Some have welcomed several new members.” In addition, the fire service is taking technical measures to quickly identify availability.
The duration of the training is also taken into account. “We are conducting a pilot at a number of posts in the region with the fire service assistant. Instead of training for 2 years, we train new firefighters in about 9 months. We hope that this will lower the threshold for people to join the fire service.”
Towards a future-proof fire service: “New starting points”
There was a lot to do about firefighters last year the reorganization plans of the Security Region. Posts would either close, or downsize or expand. Eventually, these plans disappeared into the trash.
“We have to move towards a future-proof fire service,” says Jong. “But this was not the right path. So recently new principles have been formulated by our board. Based on this, we will present a new plan to meet the challenges faced by the fire service. Then it is up to the board and the municipalities to find out something about this. A number of barracks must be strengthened in order to continue to provide fire services in the future and to comply with laws and regulations. We also see the risks changing for which we have to prepare. We are lagging behind in terms of professionalism. Developments are moving fast, just think of the emergence of solar panels and electric cars.”