We are just a couple of weeks away from local elections and many of our fire authority members are busy with their own campaigns or supporting their political colleagues with leafleting etc.

This period is known as purdah which describes a convention / protocol whereby we (the officers) try our best to give the politicians the time / space to organise their election. Equally, though, there is a block on politicians overtly using their office to get personal / political advantage.

The new duty system seems to be bedding-in okay - we will still see a few odd detachments, because we have many more people in the system than we need - so please bear with us for a while.

On the whole though, the feedback has been good.

We have also got some good news in relation to the bid for European funding for a future firefighting project and made it through the first phase. We haven't got the money yet and we have more phases - but obviously it's a step forward.

As an illustration of how important this could be for the future, though, I thought I would share just one of the approaches we are considering.

'Lance (cutting) technology' has been around in other sectors for years but has recently been used to design a new system and method for extinguishing fires. 

In essence, the approach utilises a lance (which looks like a jet washer with attitude) to produce a very small jet of water at 300 bars pressure into which can also be entrained a cutting abrasive. 

This jet of water can quickly cut through most materials including walls, doors and reinforced concrete slabs. During a recent demonstration the technology was challenged to cut through a 5mm steel armoured plate and it took just seven seconds. 

As water at 300 bars pressure will break up into much smaller droplets than it will do at lower pressures, the surface area and ability to absorb heat massively increases.

The temperature in the average sized room fire, for example, can be dropped from flashover levels to normal levels in about a minute, with just 60 litres of water using this system and method.

This 'could' be a massive step forward not just in firefighter safety but in property protection / damage - and could fundamentally change our tactics for a lot of incidents. Indeed it 'could' be the next big change in a similar vein to the introduction of breathing apparatus or the shift from hose to hose reels.

In future, rather than opening doors and running the risk of flashover / backdraft - we could just punch through the door or the wall with water - cool everything down and remove the risk; instead of designing more and more thermally layered fire kit. If we then move forward with the pressure fans and new thermal image cameras we start to envisage very different ways of fighting fires in future.

Of course there is lots of work and research to do - and there are issues of cost, reliability, training, etc. But the kit is proven in other sectors and so offers some exciting prospects.

As we move forward, though, we will be very keen to ensure we engage and involve operational personnel so that we don't end up with any white elephants.

This has been the largest consultation exercise we have ever done and has involved a huge effort - and we have had a lot of feedback.

Although its probably a sign of the times that, unlike in the past, when changes to 'fire' would have evoked a huge emotional response from the public, we have really not seen that.

Rather people have been able to take a much more analytical perspective and ask searching and important questions to test the validity of our thinking and to assure themselves we are not just responding to financial situation in any knee-jerk way.

Of course there have been concerns expressed - not least by staff and their representatives - but here too, among the concerns, we have seen realism and constructive suggestions made.

For example in the Fire Brigade Union's response they are seeking a review of a number of our operational policies - for example, our policy on 'drive to arrive' (driving under two tone horns and blue lights) and our response to fire alarms. And they make good points about how we may well need to adapt them to reflect changed circumstances.

So we will be advising the Authority that we agree and we will undertake these reviews - and we should do so in the spirit of partnership with trade unions so we do see changes in these areas.

We have now called an extraordinary meeting of the full Fire Authority next month so we can do justice to putting the outcomes of consultation in to the public domain - and giving them proper consideration and debate -  before any final decisions are made.

As we say in both documents, our options are limited - because we have significant constraints financially and the council tax freeze grant (a one year only grant to keep council tax down) has actually worsened the situation in the medium term (in future we will somehow have to make up the shortfall when the grant is removed).

So we were also open to alternative ideas arising from consultation about what else we might do to balance our approach and the finances.

I make these points really to try to manage expectations. The elected members will want to give proper consideration to feedback from everyone - the public, key stakeholders and staff - and they are anxious to ensure they do get all the feedback to consider. 

But at the end of all of that there remains a decision to be made, a requirement to balance the budget and provide the best service possible.

And its true to say that while we have had some great feedback and some constructive suggestions for changing our approach (as illustrated above) there has been a recognition that we have put enormous effort and deep thinking in to the future.

Two days in London meeting officials and MPs to try to get a fairer funding distribution - and a meeting with Greater Manchester MPs today. (I did talk about in earlier blog).

There will be lots more lobbying so I won't say more here.

But we have also this week had the inquest in to the death of Daniel Holt - which lasted for three days. Each day of the inquest has been reported in the Manchester Evening News and, rather than say more here if anyone wants to understand more, their coverage has been fair and accurate.

This was the incident where we made a number of mistakes, that meant we failed to search the living room (where Daniel had collapsed behind the settee). In the event, the pathologist's evidence identified that Daniel had 'very likely' perished before we arrived and the Coroner therefore passed an accidental death verdict.

He also reinforced the dangers of chip pan fires which underlines the importance of our safety and prevention work.

And the fact that our actions did not cause or contribute to Daniel's death, while no consolation to Daniel's family (and to whom we have - quite rightly - apologised) does mean that the personnel concerned do not have this on their conscience. And in that sense this can only be a good thing as, all along, no-one has suggested anyone deliberately set out to do anyone any harm.

Nevertheless we must still confront, deal and learn from some realities.

Basic mistakes were made, teamwork broke down completely, communications between people broke down and basic but flawed assumptions about the kind of incident the crews were dealing with were made.

And our response to the whole issue has been analysed and scrutinised in a very intense - and public and transparent way. Through a Coroner's inquest, an external peer review by another FRS and by an employment tribunal (we still await the outcome of this and as there may yet be further legal proceedings it would be inappropriate to say any more). So its fair to say we have a good understanding of what happened (I am still not sure we really understand why). 

And the only realistic conclusion is that we simply took things for granted and we were too 'casual' or 'familiar' in our approach.

There are lots of learning points we have already acted on (and the Coroner commented positively on this) - but there are some bigger points everyone needs to reflect on.

We should never make assumptions about any incident we attend - a small rubbish fire could be a 'headless corpse' as colleagues discovered just a few weeks ago, a standard two up two down terrace house on fire - and indeed any property on fire -  should always be presumed to have people missing - and the urgency and professionalism of the search consistent. And constant communications is key with teamwork a vital component of everything we do.

And once we go out the doors to an emergency - the public deserves nothing less than our complete and total concentration and complete professionalism applied to the job in hand - and whatever else is going on in our lives - personally or professionally - needs to be put aside.

It's now time to draw a line under the issue and permit everyone involved to move on - but, finally,  to reinforce the point of never making assumptions or taking anything for granted - yesterday we turned out to a car crash - with the car involved belonging to one of the crew who responded; but who was then confronted with the shock of his wife being involved.

This must be every firefighters nightmare (but its at least the fourth time I have encountered it personally in my career).

Thankfully I spoke to the FF concerned last night (I won't name him here) and I am pleased to report that his wife was released from hospital last night and though her injuries are painful they are not serious or life threatening and I am sure we all wish her a speedy recovery.

It was a real honour and quite daunting actually for all of us to wander through No 10 - its a place that just oozes history and it was a real pleasure just to chat to colleagues - firefighters, control staff and volunteers - all of whom played their parts in supporting the disorder itself but then the work to return the community to normality as quick as possible.

Putting politics to one side - and I always try to avoid being political - there was a real sense of authenticity in the thanks and appreciation of the PM but also as they 'mingled' the Cabinet - many of whom also attended the reception. Additionally, other MPs were there ( Tony Lloyd from Manchester and Hazel Blears from Salford for example) so it really was cross party. I even managed to chat to Nick Clegg.

If you get chance to catch anyone who attended please do so - but I was really proud of them as ambassadors for all of us.

The other issue was that we went live with the first (of a number) of short film clips on YouTube introducing and setting out our Corporate Plan for 2012-15 and the headline changes we are proposing within those years. The approach really introduces the plan and also localises it with a few words from each Borough Manager setting out the local impact.  It's the first time we have really used YouTube in this way and there have already been quite a few hits.

This is not BAFTA winning stuff I should add  - and neither is it intended to be -  it's really about 'real people' across the organisation introducing something that will then be considered and outlined much more fully through local consultation processes. And really by introducing change in this way talking ownership of it.  So this is not a Corporate Plan simply dropped down from 'on high' rather a document that has been shaped over some time with a lot of engagement and involvement of people in the organisation.

Have look at your area and do let us know what you think. You can find the link the video by clicking here.

As I have said many times over the past months - there's a huge amount going on at the moment and we face some huge issues arising from the economic crisis; and this week's editions of the Manchester Evening News certainly provide a clear testament to that.

I genuinely can't remember the last time we appeared on the front page for different reasons twice in as many days. These certainly are unprecedented times.

Many will have no doubt read the articles, the editorial comment made by the paper itself and, indeed, the many readers comments for themselves  - some readers of this blog may even have contributed to those comments online - but I just wanted to put on record my own views as to where we are.

There's no doubt some people will have read the headlines about 'cuts' with some fair amount of concern.

For me, I can't say I am thrilled at a headline talking about 'post code lottery' (a term liberally sprinkled about nowadays) because I think it is unhelpfully alarmist. Nevertheless, on balance I think it's really positive we have found ourselves and our plans being scrutinised in the public domain in this way.

At least no-one can accuse us of trying to keeping things hidden - quite the opposite in fact - and that is right and proper.

In today's MEN there are details of what are described as 'new response times'. Actually the times themselves were developed about eighteen months ago and consulted upon last year and have been taken directly from our Corporate Plan 2011/14.  

They are reinforced in our draft Corporate Plan 2012-15, which is on the agenda to be approved for consultation by members of the Fire Authority tomorrow. It's really the outcomes of applying those response times in the future that is the source of the concern raised in the papers.

We are trying to be as upfront, open and transparent about plans and proposals for dealing with the issues we face as possible and in that regard we would applaud our local journalists for providing such important coverage.

In one sense, it's a great way for people to understand what is going and it also raises the profile and encourages people to get involved and have their say.

On the other hand developing and planning response times and standards, and rostering patterns for incidents as different as the proverbial 'cat up a tree' to an incident such as Buncefield is complex, and difficult to get across in a strap line or a soundbite.  Far easier, just to report that in some areas appliances will be quicker in some areas slower - and align all the change as a simple 'budget cut'. 

And this is not to duck the reality that much of this thinking has been, and is, driven by the financial climate. 

There's simply no option here to say 'let's not bother with any of this - it will be unpopular and risky'.

On the other hand, we have done a huge amount already reducing management costs and back office costs (actually we have found nearly £9million in this way) but, when the majority of our budget is made up of salary costs, then it is impossible to avoid looking at ways of using less staff whilst, at the same time, providing the best standard of service we can. Though we must also continue to work to keep people safe through prevention activity, encouraging people to also be mindful and take responsibility for their own safety too.

We understand fully that people still want the very simple reassurance that when they dial 999 our crew will be with them as soon as possible. I can understand that, it comes down to basic human instinct.

We will no doubt find out more feedback as the consultation process goes on and then it will be for the Fire Authority to agree a way forward when it closes for comment in January 2012. We intend to do a full and comprehensive consultation process and explain both the context and development of response times and standards so that people can really understand what we have had, what we now have and what we are proposing - and why.

In the meantime I would urge you to read the document and if you've got a view please let us know.

When I say charitable - the proceeds go to charity - there is not much of a charitable nature in the individual bouts, sporting and competitive would be a better term perhaps.

The 'deal' here is that both teams comprise volunteers, some of who have never boxed before, who then follow a training and fitness regime to prepare and then we have a number of bouts selling tickets for charity (every year it has been a sell out with around 1000 spectators) - and it raises thousands of pounds.

The intensity of the training is incredible and all the participants always comment that they have never been fitter - I think last year's firefighters' team lost a combined total of over 20 stones in the run up to the competition.

So what was the result? Well I am delighted to say the firefighters won the event - and it was both a great evening and a great competition.

Could I say congratulations and thank you to all the participants for the months of work to get in to shape and for the thousands of pounds they have raised for charity.

But could I say an especial thanks and congratulations to our firefighters and their coaches who have shown real passion and commitment over those hard months.

This is the second year in a row we have won and of course I would wish to be magnanimous so I will hardly mention it to my good friend and colleague, Chief Constable Peter Fahy.

I was in the Control Centre until very late, alongside a number of officers running the Operations room in the Police Gold Control co-ordinating the Fire and Rescue Response. 

We had a large number of incidents until the early hours of the morning which involved the deployment of about half our appliances attending incidents ranging from cars overturned and set on fire, to buildings being ransacked and looted and everything in between including car crashes - in just the first couple of hours we took over 200 calls. 

We worked very closely with police colleagues to ensure the safety of our staff. Amongst the civil disorders, fire crews also had two serious incidents requiring ten appliances- these were not connected to the riots. 

Having been there most of the night I can attest to the excellence and commitment from everyone involved, under extremely difficult circumstances. Staff in our fire control coped extremely well and maintained a calm air of professionalism throughout. All the officers supporting the co-ordination of  resources managed in an equally professional and resourceful manner - this really was a team effort.  

But, of course, huge credit must go to the officers and crews on the ground. These were the people facing the missiles. All the officers and staff were absolutely magnificent in the face of a level of aggression and sheer thuggery many will never have experienced before.  

We dealt with serious property fires and incidents involving people, successfully, but could so easily have filled the media images for the whole day today with pictures of "Manchester burning".

At one stage we had two 'five pump' incidents within a mile of each other in Salford, both of which had crews committed inside in breathing apparatus believing people may be involved. 

And all incidents were dealt with very well. 

Of course, we have serious issues as a society to deal with here,  and this was a bad and difficult night for all of us, but without the courage, bravery and professionalism of everyone involved - and the close and very good relationship with the police, and of course the community themselves, it could have been so much worse. 

Could I close by again saying thank you to everyone for their work for the community last night. 

We may yet have more to deal with - let's see what tonight brings - but we self evidently have the people and the professionalism to deal with this difficult period.

I must not be 'grumpy' about this, though, because who could fail to be moved and cheered by the mood in the run up to the wedding - and indeed the wedding itself.

The bride looked absolutely stunning - its difficult to conceive how its possible to see a more beautiful bride - but the bridesmaids, pageboys etc etc all looked wonderful. And the whole presentation and organisation was really a showcase to the World - what a fabulous idea to have planted trees in Westminster Abbey.

We do know how to put on a 'big event' and it bodes well for the Olympics similarly being a demonstration to the World of how to do things well.

Steve McGuirk

Sir Michael is probably better known for his internationally recognised research work on tackling health inequalities so, at the request of the previous government, he conducted a review of health inequalities, which published its report 'Fair Society, Healthy Lives' in February 2010. It is this report that the recently released White Paper on Public Health responds to by adopting its proposed life course framework for tackling the wider social determinants of poor health.

"When working on the Review of Health Inequalities I visited various interventions and programmes aimed at improving health and reducing inequalities. I was so impressed with the work of the fire services! Back then, I was completely unaware of the relevance of their day to day work to reducing health inequalities. I realised that the agendas of preventing ill-health and preventing fires were closely linked: fires and ill-health occur in the more deprived areas, to people at the bottom of the socio-economic gradient, to those in poor quality housing, and to those whose circumstances have lead them to take up unhealthy lifestyles. Through their prevention schemes, the fire services run a universal programme of home fire safety checks: they are in touch with members of the public from all sections of the community and not only attempt to prevent fires, but are also involved in running prevention programmes from home safety to road safety. They link up with schools, engage and inspire young people, visit people's homes and develop relationships with the community - they are in the perfect position to deliver interventions and partner with other agencies to reduce health inequalities. The fire services do what every stakeholder involved in reducing health inequalities should do: engage directly with the community, work to provide them with the opportunities they need to live a healthy life and focus on prevention."

What a glowing tribute and I share it to reinforce the importance of the wider work - especially the community work - we now engage in.  We have just published papers for our Fire Authority next week including our next, three year Corporate Plan.  This provides the backbone of what we will do to address the huge challenges; we face but we need to be really really clear that working in the community in a wide array of different ways is now as "core" to our Service as jumping on fire appliances and putting fires out. And I just thought this statement underlines the value so many people place on what we do and the value we add.

I hadn't really registered the date last night when I was watching the documentary on the work of the UK-ISAR team in Japan a couple of weeks ago. It's amazing how soon something like that starts to feel a long time ago - yet there are still real problems tackling the incident, the nuclear power plant and thousands of people remain unaccounted for. But there are connections - and these were reinforced by a reminder this morning of the tragic anniversary.

Firstly, just how professional and committed all our colleagues were and how well they came across on the documentary. Their desire to help and save people's lives just shone through.

And, indeed, it's not too dramatic to say they were placing their lives on the line in Japan, as colleagues do every day and as our colleagues in Hampshire did a year ago.

I am sure their families and friends felt justifiably proud - certainly I did. I am also sure that whilst there will be a range of different emotions in the families of James and Alan in Hampshire today, pride will also be one of them.

Secondly, it struck me how much our search and rescue colleagues just got on with the job in hand and how, because the size of the challenge and the need for speed was just so obvious, they just used their initiative (backed up by their training) to do what they saw as necessary. Thankfully no-one was injured (though Bryn the dog did get a nasty cut) but it seemed an incredibly dangerous set of circumstances that our team was dealing with.

It also  struck me that we deployed people to the other side of the world, just hours after an earthquake and tsunami, with aftershocks going on around them, crawling through buildings that could potentially collapse at any time. Yet we all recognised this was the job in hand.

The importance and - now worldwide - significance of our search and rescue role was another thing that really struck  home and I think how we provide the capability for this developing role in Greater Manchester is likely to be something we return to thinking about in coming months.

Thanks to all the team who represented us all so well and came over as consummate professionals last night. Could I ask us all just to spare a moment today to reflect on the families of James Shears and Alan Bannon one year on.

A big day for us - not only will we be welcoming back the UK team who have been to Japan today at Manchester Airport, but we have virtually every station doing 'unsung' heroic deeds raising money for our firefighters charity - car washing on their station or close to it.  And I am really not being flippant - nor am I detracting in any way from the brilliant job our team has done in Japan.

And that's the thing about our service that we must continue to try to communicate and promote - day in and day out people do things that are obviously heroic but lots of others make a difference by doing things that may not be as obvious.  Does that make them back office? Or are they all part of the chain that ultimately delivers the service?

Japan also really hammers home the issue of managing health and safety in emergency situations, especially when I see the courage of the firefighters fighting the blaze at the nuclear plant.

They are all volunteers and face a real and genuine threat that they will not come out alive - nobody is directly involved, rather they recognise that the potential to their wider community is enormous, and, to them, that makes their potential sacrifice justified and you know what? I am sure their whole community not only agrees with them, but is unbelievably thankful they are prepared to do so.

Translate that to incidents of a much lower level and size here - but nevertheless challenging.

I was the president of CFOA when four firefighters were tragically killed in Warwickshire a few years ago (and this incident has recently lead to some of the officers being charged with gross negligence manslaughter).  This latter point means I ought not to say too much about the incident itself as we need to see what happens through the judicial process.  What I will say though is that I was bombarded with questions by the media at the time - starting from the premiss that the only reason firefighters would enter a burning building was to rescue someone - no other possibility was seemingly countenanced.  And to be honest that idea seems to have prevailed.

The reality, as I pointed out at the time, was and is that there are many many reasons why firefighters need to enter buildings - as much as anything to prevent an incident getting worse and leading to major events that could then jeopardise life.  In other words, we shouldn't wait for tragedies to be in front of our eyes - our role is to avert them. Because it's an emergency - people call the emergency services - that's what we do.

And sometimes yes that means going into burning buildings when no-one is inside and yes, that may be very dangerous.  And whilst of course we can train and provide as much equipment as possible - and I am really not advocating a casual approach or disregard for health and safety -  it will still be the case.  And it isn't - thankfully -  going to be an incident on the scale of Japan and it may be an incident that would harm of even kill 'just a few people' in the vicinity that would not be global news - but it nevertheless remains our role.

Just a few years ago on a cold night in Handsworth, where I was a station commander, I was in charge of an incident where I asked for volunteers to go with me to remove some dangerous cylinders looking very likely to explode and seriously injure the people watching and standing by (and a fire however small will attract people's natural curiosity).  It was a hairy few minutes I can tell you, but we removed the cylinders and no-one noticed and thankfully nothing happened.  Was this gung ho? I didn't feel gung ho at the time (truth is I was petrified actually). Did I have a realistic appraisal of how many people would be killed or injured and did I 'fully evaluate' all the risks (not really there wasn't a great deal of time).  And today all of it would have been captured on film with 'the movie' on facebook before the incident was finished, with the possibility of every second of the decision making process unfolding being freeze framed and analysed in great detail.

These kind of incidents can or could happen in every town and city in the country and this without even venturing in to the very scary and somewhat over dramatic media speculation.

But it does illustrate just how difficult and challenging and complex our role is today.

I am looking forward to meeting and welcoming our team back and saying thank you on behalf off all of us for what they have.

I would also say thank you though to the dozens of folk turning out today to raise funds for our charity.

It started (for me) on Friday morning when the early calls were coming in from the co-ordination centre to "stand up" our Search and Rescue team.  This was hot on the heels of having just stood them down - there was a suggestion earlier last week of sending a second wave of people to New Zealand but in the event the decision was taken not to. As the day passed and more images started to come through this was obviously going to be a disaster of epic proportions so it became obvious there would be a response required.

We therefore got preparations to despatch the team moving.

At a national level there was also a debate commenced in relation to what other help might be needed and the Fire and Rescue Service provide in terms of equipment and expertise. (And this wider preparation continues).

The call to despatch actually came early Saturday morning, and it was agreed that the team would fly from Manchester (colleagues in DFID made the actual arrangements in consultation with colleagues in the Fire Service through the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA)).

Teams from around the Country then started making their way to Wythenshawe fire station which we agreed to use as a rendezvous point and marshalling centre. As we had worked up the preparation it became apparent that a lot of the national "capacity" - in other words the rescue kit - was still somewhere between Christchurch and the UK.  It often takes a long time to repatriate/ refund for equipment used for rescue in other countries (major earthquakes do not normally come in such quick succession).  Accordingly, we decided to deploy the GMCFRS equipment as part of the deployment.  In truth, this does leave us a "bit short" in the event of a major catastrophe in GM and it would take us a little while to assemble more kit (and we are doing that as we speak) - but to us the humanitarian requirement that is clearly here and now, outweighed every theoretical "risk" of what "might" happen.

I attended Wythenshawe fire station to do anything I could to assist before the team flew out - but in truth there was little I could add - the preparation was impressive with all the team getting pre deployment medicals and ensuring they were as prepared as they could be. It was good for me to be able to offer any words of encouragement and support I could however, and it was also nice to catch up with colleagues who I had not seen for many years in other Services I have previously worked in (it's a small world).

I have met with the teams every time we have done an overseas deployment  -  pretty much every one for the last 12 years I have been a Chief Officer (and there have been a surprisingly high number of deployments over that period) but I discerned a different mood amongst the team. Not only was this a massive event and there were anxieties about the difference they could make (but a desire to do whatever they could) but also a sense that unlike many other events that have happened and we go in to support the aftermath - Japan remains a live situation.  The issues around the nuclear power station explosions and risks also added to the sense of going in to the unknown in a way not experienced before.

The team deployed on Saturday night, arriving yesterday.  I received a text from the team leader - Pete Stevenson - in the early hours and thought it worth sharing.

"Sir, about 60km away from ofunato where we will set up a base of operations jointly with the 2 American teams. Expect to work 4 some time until satisfied we have done all we can there. Aware of 2nd nuclear plant but we are over 100 km away and constantly monitoring the situation. Team in good spirits but grim task for some time yet. Regards, Pete"

He's right - I am sure it will be a grim task but one that is crucial and one that we are immensely proud of - let's hope and pray they can make a difference and they all return safe.  I cannot imagine how the Japanese people are coping with these events - the scale of the challenge is beyond the imagination of most of us.  What I do know, though, is that it really is at times like this that the human spirit rises to meet the challenge.  I also know that it really is important that all communities pull together.  If we can make a difference to just a few people's lives, and help Japan get back on its feet, then that will represent not just "career highlights" for the people involved (Pete actually retires from the Service when he returns - this is his last mission), but it will represent something much much deeper for the people concerned.

Could I close by publicly thanking everyone at Manchester Airport who were superb.  Not only did they make it as easy as possible for the team to get through Customs etc - but they hosted them in an exemplary way - just a small gesture but it made an enormous difference to the people concerned.

Happy New Year

Steve McGuirk

In the event I found myself not only enjoying the show but really quite inspired by some of the stories, and I thought any sensitivities were handled really well.  It was also clear that this was an event to be seen at - as it was 'wall to wall' celebrity mingling and mixing with the military personnel.

But more than anything it came over that the military personnel felt truly appreciated, and were great ambassadors for their respective service and each of their respective 'teams' - actually every single winner mentioned the team they worked with.

It did get me thinking, though, about the value of awards and ceremonies like this - and indeed the value of opening them up to the public.  We are a pretty private lot in the fire service (our xmas carol service just the other night for example wasn't open to the public) and we remain quite bashful about our achievements.

This weekend we have had a tragic incident - a fatal incident - and coming the day after the military awards it did cause me to reflect on how we share 'what we really do' with the public.

I would stress that this is not to diminish the importance of celebrating the heroes in our armed services at all - but as we all face a challenging future we maybe ought to think a little more about the value of our civil emergency services - and maybe celebrate them a little more? 

Of course the media is dominated by the 'big numbers' - how many job losses there will be and which services will be cut -  but rarely mentions the fire and rescue service.

But we are part of that settlement and for us it hasn't been very good news at all.

(I have been accused of being a bit gloomy with my blog - actually I am not at all gloomy - on the contrary - but I am afraid the issues consuming most of my time at the moment are the most challenging ones - and inevitably can sound a bit 'gloomy')

But it's important to set out what was said before our settlement and - importantly - what's happened?

What was said?

It was said that fire and rescue cuts would be backloaded to allow the preparation for the big changes that will be necessary; so years 3 and 4 would be when the big changes happened.

What's happened?

Well, instead of the 4 year settlement promised the government has in fact given us figures for just 2 years so we still don't really yet know whether it has been backloaded.  However, given that the overall cut for fire is 7%, it appears the government have been true to their word at a national level and if the maths stack up - then there is another big cut to come in a year or two.  There are a couple of very big 'buts' though.

One is - but at the same time they have changed the funding formula and the new (reduced) pot of money available is being 'divvied' up in very different ways.  For GMFRS the cut in the first two years is in fact over 12% - nearer 9 million - which is worse than we expected.  What is also concerning is the other 'but' - the backloading question.

Because it would appear from this that instead of the overall 25% cut we had anticipated in GMFRS, over that 4 year period it will likely be over 30%.

What else was said?

There has been considerable talk that all of this should be possible without affecting 'frontline services'.

So what's happened?

Of course we have and will do all we can to protect the 'front line', though in our case it's really quite impossible to differentiate between front line and 'something else'.  The term  'back office' is now common parlance to describe everything other than the front line - but  means all things to all people; and is presented almost as a pot of gold at the end of a magical rainbow we can somehow dip in to when times get hard. 

We have done an enormous amount of work here, though, and we believe we will be able to save around 5% of our budget over the 4 year period.  But this isn't easy money - there will be big changes - and it will also mean job losses of course - and we have been doing this for years. The soon to be abolished Audit Commission did a report a couple of years ago on efficiency in the fire service and identified that Greater Manchester had saved more than any other service over the last few years.

But back office efficiencies don't find even half of the money we have to find.

And it's worth making this point from the outset because somewhere down the line we will inevitably be faced with the accusation that if we can't find all the money through 'efficiencies' and back office - then it must be down to incompetent management.

So it is inevitable now that there must be changes at 'the front line' - and possibly some very significant changes.
 
This isn't being alarmist at all - quite the reverse.  In fact many of the changes possible are only possible because of the excellent safety and prevention work we have done over the last few years. So we have an excellent track record of making changes that work. And I am confident we can also reorganise the front line to be more efficient through different rostering arrangements and so on.

But the changed picture does require us to reflect on our desire to retain all our appliances and stations.  I must stress it's far too early to say what exactly this means and raise concerns that it requires a wholesale re-think.  It doesn't - and our plans are pretty much absolutely where they need to be - which in many ways is very reassuring (rather than gloomy - I think we have been realistic rather than hopefully optimistic). 

But we undoubtedly face some tough times ahead and it would be foolhardy to allow the changed - and worse - situation unfolding pass as if it will have no impact. 

I was at a function last week chatting to the producer who had reassured me the Fire Service didn't come out too badly from the big event - the tram crash (though he did hint I may not be happy with our response time) - well let's see how the week unfolds.

A couple of observations I would make though.

Firstly, considering how many people deny they watch Corrie its remarkable how quick they emailed and text - and how many of them are senior fire officers. Secondly - ITS NOT REAL.

Talking of what is real though - we had a really nice evening at a beautiful church - St Anns - in the centre of Manchester. A great way to start Christmas but also a good chance to just stop for a short while and reflect - to remember what Christmas is about - and also to give 'thanks' for the contribution firefighters and our Service makes to making our communities safer and better. I am not particularly spiritual to be honest - and I don't want to appear artificially 'schmaltzy' - but by the same token I don't want to gloss over important issues either.

The Rector's address was really thought provoking in this regard and he did bring me up short to think about some of this. 

We all know we face a challenging future but the Rector's words about the values of the Service and the sense of humanity shared by most firefighters did 'humble' me a bit and took me by surprise also. As part of the point he was making he had a short video produced - I think it made the point well.

Back to Corrie though - the question on all our lips now is 'who's a gonner' - Rita? Sinita? Molly?

Phew - exciting stuff!

The great thing about Corrie is it doesn't take itself too seriously - even in the midst of the devastation there were a couple of funny 'one-liners' thrown in for good measure. 

At the moment life feels very serious - and without wishing to make light of anything - last night in different and surprising ways has reminded me to keep a sense of proportion - not to mention a (balanced) sense of humour.

"It's been both an uplifting and frustrating end to the week. The frustrating bit first. We have been informed that it's unlikely we will now get our financial settlement figures from Government until December 15 - and possibly even later. This is a real issue for us as we remain in a bit of limbo in terms of being able to plan precisely what we need to do. And it nudges a lot of work to the other side of Christmas and really does cause problems with our planning.  But there is nothing we can do.

It also means our hopes of being able to give people a clearer idea of how we will achieve any staff reductions before Christmas to try to reduce anxieties as far as possible now appear unlikely to be realised.  

Nevertheless the work continues to develop the best solutions possible and I can confirm the desire of elected members of the fire authority to do the best they possibly can. In this context we also continue to talk to staff representatives and, in fact, the elected members and I meet them together after the Authority meeting next week.  We would hope to be able to continue what is helpful, pragmatic and constructive discussion and indeed to try to get as much clarity as possible between us notwithstanding the problem with awaiting national outcomes. 

It's a bit trite for me to say it's very frustrating because I recognise fully some folk would just say back to me - "its okay for you - you don't think your job is at risk".  And to be honest this is a fair point.  Really all I can do is my best to try to recognise the challenge, be as reassuring as possible without being patronising and work as hard as possible behind the scenes to get the best possible result. And be reassured that is what we are doing.

Now the uplifting bit - we have had a some real success this week in operational terms - in amongst coping with the weather. Crews at Bury did a great job and according to the Bury Times "saved the town's leisure centre" - a great headline.  But the same station also undertook an excellent rescue, reviving a casualty who had "technically" died, but who now remains in a stable condition in hospital.  By coincidence one of the firefighters who undertook the rescue from Bury received his long service medal from the Lord Lieutenant last night and I was able to use this excellent example to illustrate that for all our success with safety, we still fight fires and we do so very well. The FF concerned looked embarrassed at the attention but nicely so - though he may well have a few words with the person who dobbed him in to me.

We also opened a young people's café at Bury fire station last night. This is a real good initiative and lots of people have worked to make it a success. But again we must also give real credit to the people on the station. In this day and age it could be all too easy to find reasons to prevent or try to stop things like this happening - but to the credit of the people here they took the other view to make it happen. And having done so will make a real difference to people in that community.

Some personal stuff? (not said much about this recently -  too consumed with all the big "stuff" going on around us).

A big weekend in the McGuirk household - "big birthdays" (best not say which and who)  -  the Christmas Tree is going and I'm looking forward to seeing my youngest daughter who has been ensconced in London with her new job for the last few weeks. And also a bit of xmas shopping I suspect (Chris Rainford's book for one thing). It's also the panto at the Training Centre this weekend - which unfortunately I can't make  - but have a great time if you're going.

To be fair to the MEN, it's entirely appropriate they investigate the suggestion here and - probably - to be critical as I suspect some members of the public would be critical.  To be honest I have also received some negative comments from staff based around similar "rumours".  So let me just be upfront about the issue and offer a comment.

When we proposed the major restructure of senior management,  last year,  part of the planning recognised a need to train these managers not only in the "technical" facets of managing a public organisation  - finance governance etc -  but also to get them prepared to deal with the transformational change that was always going to be required following the General Election. Accordingly, we ring fenced some of the £2 million savings from the restructure to support and provide training for the new tiers of officers.  In the "old days" we would, in fact, have sent these officers on extended residential courses at the Fire Service College in Gloucestershire  -  the "Divisional Command Course" for example was an eight week course.  Having selected the officers for the new jobs, and having gone through a difficult transition process, where some colleagues applied for "their own jobs" and were unsuccessful, we undertook the training and development.  This started in June, though it had been programmed and developed some months before that as part of the "plan" and over the last few months has rolled down each of the new  -  fewer  -  tiers of management.

Since June, just over 100 managers have taken part in six separate, intensive residential training and development courses at the Last Drop Village Hotel in Bolton, and the courses were held at the Last Drop because we do not have the facilities to provide them in-house. The obvious location is the Training Centre but this is focused on delivering day to day operational training. The courses are residential not to give the officers a "junket" or to wine and dine them at the tax payer's expense.  These are intensive programmes with people starting very early and working well past the usual 9 to 5 hours well into the evening. Believe me at the end of the training the officers were shattered - and the feedback on the course content has been largely very positive.  In the spirit of truthfulness, it's only fair to report that some officers themselves did ask whether the course could have been delivered differently - recognising that all management training can be portrayed as "spin" or "faddy" - but it's also true to say that these colleagues were a very small minority - the majority feedback was excellent.  Of course the proof will be in the pudding and really it's about how we actually handle the changes we face.

The total cost of all of this was £82,500, which includes accommodation, trainer fees and other charges, and to put this in context we spend about £1.6million per year on training and developing all staff, with the vast bulk of this spent on operational firefighters - and to stress again the funding for this was ring fenced from the first year's savings arising from the reduction in senior managers, not eating in to mainstream training budgets.

Despite all the above -  which I genuinely feel most people will see as a reasonable and honest explanation -  I do also recognise that because of the times we are in, some of this still appear unreasonable and a waste of money to some people.  Indeed, if people look at the web site for the hotel we used, the front page has a picture of a lovely swimming pool which doesn't help - and reinforces the idea of managers "living it up".  That said, a look at the website for the Fire Service College or the Police College or the Military colleges will show similar positive images of the facilities - gyms, swimming pools and so on.  Nevertheless, it remains important to acknowledge the legitimacy of criticism and to reflect on that.

It doesn't mean to say that because we face financial challenges we will "cut" everything - I have gone on record a number of times to say that in a few years time we will still be spending around £100 million of tax payer's money, we will have dozens of fire appliances and stations and hundreds of personnel and managers.  So we still need to invest in facilities, training and development. And yes, even senior managers (including me) still need training and development and that can sometimes look both expensive and not "like proper training" where we wear breathing apparatus and so on.  But we also need to sow value for money.  We are currently reviewing our approach to training - how we need to do things differently in future.  Whilst we cannot manage on the basis of how the media could run a negative story - we would end up almost paranoid and never do anything - but we should keep giving everything we do the simple "media test" - how will this look on the front page of the Evening News?"

The commendation event took place in the fire station engine house and it was truly poignant and actually quite moving to be able to re-unite the people who suffered this tragic event with the operational crews who attended.  

Speaking to the crews they described this incident as one of the most difficult many of them had dealt with.  Notwithstanding the professional challenge, we can also easily forget the emotional aspect for the firefighters who deal with incidents as difficult as this one.  They literally battled (a bit of an overused media phrase but appropriate here) to bring the fire under control, and to rescue and revive the children involved.  So, it was also a good opportunity for me - and the family of course - to say thank you to them for their efforts and professionalism.  Speaking to the crews it was a helpful way of providing "closure" for them.

I really wish we didn't have evenings like last night and the work we are doing fitting smoke alarms will continue to ensure these become even more infrequent.  But fires will still happen and "some" tragedies will still occur - that is why we will always need a highly professional fire and rescue service.  But when these events do occur we should also ensure that we take the time to pause, reflect and show appreciation, for even in the midst of the most horrendous situations the humanity and courage of both professional firefighters and "ordinary" people like Carly and Danielle is really quite inspirational and leaves one reassured that we are all capable of so much more than we believe we are.