There has been a bit of commotion in recent days - and a predictable call to the Manchester Evening News by a 'dissatisfied member of staff' - about the issue of white shirts issued to watch managers and crew managers.

Amazing how, with so many things going on that are very serious and big issues, folks can get so agitated about the colour of a shirt.  We are investing millions in training facilities, we are facing up to massive questions arising from the Efficiency review, we await the Chancellors spending review in just a few weeks' time to get a sense of the magnitude of the cuts we will face in future years, and so on.  So in the grand scheme of things shirt colour doesn't seem something to get too worked up about - but there you go, people do.

So, I thought it helpful to push out some information/facts.

In 2009, a trial of new white duty rig shirts for officers commenced. In 2010, following suggestions to the Equipment Monitoring Group, this was extended to include trousers. The 2009 trial involved eight officers of Group Manager and Station Manager rank in varying roles taking part. Comparative feedback was gathered on whether the uniform was fit for purpose, robust, easy to use, store, maintain and compatible with other equipment. That feedback showed the trial shirt was a success.

Initially, it was envisaged that the white shirts would be worn by station manager and above. The Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) and the Leadership Team (LT), however, were also asked to consider a number of recommendations regarding the provision of new duty rig uniform to operational managers.  The intention here was to reflect the changing role of operational managers and the Service - including a greater community role, with stations more open to the public - and make them more easily identifiable to both colleagues and also the public.  The public like to be able to easily identify "who's in charge" for a whole host of reasons. Therefore, the decision was made to issue white shirts to crew manager and above.

Following feedback from operational crews via a survey monkey regarding operational crews wearing white it was decided that the scale of issue would be five shirts to accommodate one for each day of the tour with one spare.

Additionally, the white shirt has been worn by our colleagues in the other North West fire and rescue services and throughout the country for a number of years and feedback to us from North West Technical West Officers meetings has always been very positive. I guess we should remember that the shirts and trousers are a colour change only and the cloth of the garment is the same as the blue.

The shirts are being brought in through a staged approach, and the unused blue shirts that are returned to stores will be reused and issued to firefighters when they next need them.  And the new white ones in fact are more cost effective in the long term.  To supply all officers with their allocation of the new rig costs £12,668 compared with £13,994 for the same amount of blue rig - so we're saving more than £1,300 pa across uniform issued to officers.

I guess that's it really.

There is one aspect for crew managers who have agreed with the approach but, understandably,  have also said that sometimes they are in charge and sometimes they are a crew members and there is a practical issue with this.  CLT agreed just the other day that this was fair enough, so we will amend the issue to crew managers to reflect the two aspects of their role - give them some blue shirts as well (not a great cost at all) - and allow them to make their own mind up about which shirt to wear.

In many ways, as I say, given the size of the challenges we face I do struggle to see the same significance here as some folks appear to.  But as this stuff can so easily be spun to look like senior managers thinking up new ways to waste money it does need to be dealt with honestly and in an upfront way.

I met three of our volunteers yesterday and was able to talk about how they get involved, what they do and crucially what they get from their involvement.  And, frankly, it was inspirational stuff and it's not too big a statement to say that in a couple of cases it really has changed their lives (for the better).

The volunteers have grown from strength over the last few years - about three years ago we realised we had a 'confused' ambition in terms of what we wanted volunteers to do. It was also mostly the case that the people who volunteered saw it as a stepping-stone in to the Service so when we froze recruitment we lost a lot.

Subsequently we have refocused and the volunteers stand on their own as a key arm of the organisation - that supplements or complements our core activity and can do things in a way that we couldn't sustain in any other way.

A couple of great examples - the post fire incident team now has nearly 40 people who voluntarily operate a 24/7 roster and attend incidents after the event to help the people involved get back on their feet.  The time they commit would not be possible with operational crews but it'S a 'value added' service that is truly appreciated by those who receive it.

Volunteers now run the majority of fire cadet units and we have grown from a couple in 2011 to 12 by the end of last year - and more in the pipeline.

And yesterday I was told of an amazing initiative that I thought was a work of genius to be honest.

In Rochdale (and there may be other areas but I was told about it in Rochdale) they analysed the data - as we do nowadays - which revealed that a lot of fires in a particular area were cooking fires and involved a lot of vulnerable and elderly people. Quite simply, they were grilling food and not really washing the grill pan properly, leaving fat deposits that then caught fire. The average cost of a house fire now is nearly £30k, never mind the trauma for the person concerned and also the knock on costs of rehousing and so on.

So the Community Safety Advisors deployed the volunteers to work through the area in question simply offering to wash the grill pans of elderly or vulnerable people. There is no way we could justify or deploy firefighters to do this kind of thing - but the deployment of the volunteers as I say was a 'stroke of genius'.

Cooking fires in that area all but disappeared saving literally hundreds of thousands of pounds in 'the system' as did the trauma and costs for the people concerned.  And the volunteers really quite enjoyed and got a lot of fulfilment from the work, knowing they had potentially saved someone's life by preventing the fire - and we know we are talking about real fires here.

There are many other examples I could give but I think you get the idea.

We now have over 400 volunteers and they continue to grow from strength to strength - and what is becoming evident is that folks across the organisation now see them as really valuable and a really important addition to the service we can provide our communities.

Lots of good things going on an a great chance to be able to say a bit more and explain a bit more some of he major things going on. 

Getting out on to the stations is a really important thing to do - it would be very easy to get chained to HQ and spend every day in meetings.

Thanks to everyone for their contribution and for the welcome and hospitality.

I will come clean from the outset - a bit like the Gangnam craze - I really don't get it!

But I guess that is probably a combination of age and one or two other things?

I am not doing too badly - I'm into Twitter and the like and Mumford and Sons are my favourite band at the moment (now Brit award winners as well as Grammy winners) - so I am keeping up reasonably well.

But there are some lines that I won't cross - and getting sucked in to doing this type of stuff is one of them. 

So please don't anybody hold their breath expecting me to do Gangnam, Harlem or whatever the next craze is.

Our Community Safety Advisors, apprentices and indeed many other staff love it - and we have had huge positive publicity because of it - but I remain quite content to be an observer rather than a participant - and this is one I won't be "taking for the team".

But by all means those who enjoy - enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz3JkHiIezc

The Watch Manager who attended very kindly sent through some feedback - which was deservedly glowing in the approach and professionalism of the initial actions taken by the volunteers.

I think this is a great illustration of a lot of things and a real credit to everyone.

From the volunteers who did a great job (self-evidently) but also the supportive attitude and approach of the crews and the local officers, who reflect the attitude of everyone really, in recognising that there is scope for a lot of different people to work together in the fire and rescue service bringing different skills and qualities and doing different things - but complimentary to each other, and working together seamlessly to provide a brilliant public service. 

Such a breath of fresh air to be able to talk about positive stuff (I think I have developed a problem whereby I can hardly seem to say a sentence these days without the word "austerity" appearing in it somewhere).

Thanks to everyone involved. We hope to bring you more on this story on our website next week.

If you're interested in becoming a volunteer for us, please go to /working_for_us/become_a_volunteer.aspx

Yesterday there was a question tabled that lead to further questions. There is a saying when people use when talking about controversial things: "there will be questions in the House"  - and I use this to illustrate that questioning of government this was is a very powerful part of trying to win arguments.

I have cut and pasted the whole session below (it is not too long) as I thought people would find it interesting.

I was particularly pleased at the question from Bishop Nigel McCulloch of Manchester - who is very much interested in this issue and very well informed.

Bishop Nigel obviously isn't a politician but, before speaking out in this way as a church leader, he needs to be clear of the issue and adopt a position that is impartial and in the community's interest - hence my pleasure at his support. 

As I keep saying, whether all this lobbying fundamentally changes anything remains to be seen. 

Moreover, it also remains important to be clear that, even if it does, all we will achieve is a fairer distribution of cut - instead of some either getting increases or stand still budgets.

And there are some signs of movement -  for example London are currently talking about shutting 30 fire stations and losing 800 firefighters for example. But there remains little doubt we will nevertheless also see significant cuts.

Also in support of this, the Chairman of the Fire Authority was interviewed this morning on BBC Radio Manchester's Alan Beswick show (listen here) - when we get the link for people to be able to listen themselves we will share that. Finally, this afternoon I am meeting another one of our local MPs to continue our efforts.

Fire Services: Funding
Question

11.30 am

Asked By

Lord Alton of LiverpoolTo ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risks arising from proposals to reduce funding for fire services outside London.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Hanham):My Lords, single-purpose fire and rescue authorities outside London have had a change in their revenue spending power of minus 2.2% in 2011-12 and minus 0.5% in 2012-13. Many fire and rescue authorities are making sensible savings without impacting on the quality or breadth of the services offered to their communities. It is for each fire and rescue authority to determine the operational activities of its service through its integrated risk management plan, which is subject to consultation with the local community.

Lord Alton of Liverpool: I thank the Minister for that reply. Has she had a chance to study the letter sent to her by Members from all parts of your Lordships' House, and also the letter sent to her department yesterday by the six chief fire officers of the metropolitan areas, in which they stated that current proposals would lead to the loss of 2,500 front-line firefighters and 100 fire engines, and to the closure of 60 stations? In an area such as Merseyside, this would lead to a 33% cut, when it has already made cuts of up to £20 million and lost 500 firefighters in recent years. Given the terrible tragedies that can be wreaked by fire, and the inherent risks to public safety that may ensue, would it not be sensible, before this becomes an issue of antagonism, public debate and concern, for the Government to commission an independent risk assessment so that we can be clear about the implications of these proposals?

Baroness Hanham: My Lords, as I indicated, once the Government have made decisions on funding, it is up to each fire authority to deal with the standard of service that it provides. It is worth noting, thankfully, that the number of fires has gone down, largely due to the work carried out by fire authorities. Given that, the response need may be slightly different.

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey: Would my noble friend be agreeable to meeting the Secretary of State in an all-party delegation on this matter? I ask because I do not believe that, following previous value-for-money changes in metropolitan fire services, the proposal before us is the right solution. We need to discuss it calmly and I hope that the Minister will persuade her Secretary of State to receive such a delegation.

Baroness Hanham: My Lords, the noble Baroness will understand that I am perfectly prepared to pass on her request, but I know that the fire Minister is already in close discussions with the metropolitan fire and rescue services and is listening very carefully to what they are saying.

Lord Shipley: My Lords, I understood the Minister to say that London had been protected from the recent round of cuts over the past two years. I also understand that this was due to the Olympics. Will she confirm that there will now be fairness in the distribution of reductions in budgets, particularly in view of the fact that a number of senior firefighters believe that there is now a danger to the delivery of the national resilience policy because of the unevenness of the impact of the cuts across the country?

Baroness Hanham: My Lords, as the noble Lord will know, there are different views about the impact of the reductions. Depending on where you are in the country, you may have a different view. The best thing that can happen-which is happening-is that the consultations should continue until decisions are made on the next spending allocations.

The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, does the Minister understand that little that she has said up to now today will strengthen the morale of authorities such as the Greater Manchester fire and rescue service, which serves courageously in very high-risk and deprived areas, is often under attack while on call and feels that it is being disproportionately hit by unfair cuts? Is not the fairest way a flat-rate cut for all fire authorities and not to allow 84.2% of the cuts to fall on the metropolitan authorities?

Baroness Hanham: To answer the right reverend Prelate's initial comments, of course we all recognise the very valuable service that the fire authorities carry out. I indicated earlier that I thought that the reduction in the number of fires is due to the expertise of the fire service, and it is to be greatly welcomed. I acknowledge that there are really bad exceptions to that and that the fire service then carries out a heroic and very valuable role. Local authorities, including fire and rescue authorities, were asked to respond to a consultation on how the baseline distribution should be set in 2013-14. I cannot pre-empt the future settlement position and, as I said earlier, there is not a settled view among firefighters on whether it should be based on a flat-rate cut or on other methods.

Lord McKenzie of Luton: The Minister will be aware, because we have debated it extensively, that we are about to embark on a new business rate retention scheme as well as a poll tax mark 2. Is not the reality of the business rate scheme that it will further entrench the inequalities and inadequacies in funding and could do so for up to seven years if the Government have their way on how the system will work?

Baroness Hanham: Yes, my Lords, the business rate retention scheme will have some effect on the fire and rescue authorities and their direct levers for growth. We have therefore proposed that single-purpose fire and rescue authorities should keep 2% of the local share of business rates.

My best wishes were for his battle with cancer.

Neal has continued that battle - and boy, has it been a battle - and the truth is he doesn't know whether he has won it yet.

He has penned another remarkable piece and deployed all his (enviable) literary talents to explain and describe what he has been through.

Amazingly, he has been able to combine humour (yes - humour) with an incredibly honest exposition.

All of us have lost someone to this terrible disease. For many of us (me included) it's a very very scary thing , which if we can avoid thinking about or dealing with then we do (certainly I do).

But in a strange way Neal's writing has just taken the edge off that fear and many people will find it not only very helpful but also quite inspirational.

Have a look. And, by the way Neal, keep fighting!

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1589610_you-gonna-die-dad-men-chief-reporter-neal-keeling-writes-about-his-fight-to-beat-cancer

Today, the emergency services in Greater Manchester and across the UK were deeply saddened by the tragic death of two female police officers in Tameside.

It has been a devastating day for Greater Manchester Police and the county as a whole and on behalf of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service I would like to extend my heartfelt condolences to the force for the tragic loss of Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes.

I would also like to offer my sincerest condolences to the families and friends of the two officers who lost their lives while carrying out a routine job - this is a heart-breaking time for all who knew these two women.

The incident is a chilling reminder of the risks faced by brave emergency services workers everyday of their lives in order to protect the community.

The two women were shot in Hattersley this morning and the shootings led to the arrest of wanted murder suspect Dale Cregan.

I can only echo the thoughts of my colleague in GMP, Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan, who said earlier that a "long and dark shadow has been cast across Greater Manchester."

The Moss Side gym continues to impress as does our work with The Prince's Trust (we have three schemes graduating this week) and many other initiatives, not least the massive growth in the use of the caged soccer units. 

The guys at Irlam have done some amazing stuff here and every Friday night dozens of youngsters assemble around the fire station area to participate in football tournaments - all 'run' through the local crews and the 'outreach' police station now located at  Irlam.

We have so much stuff going on its impossible to do it justice here, or indeed sometimes to keep up with what's going on.

Of course all this stuff isn't easy and has its challenges, not least funding, but also some of the trickier issues such as retaining our 'neutrality' but at the same time playing a key partnership role with police colleagues and a myriad other issues - like the management of health and safety in some of the 'edgier' activities.

But the energy, passion and drive that characterises our Service and our 'can-do' attitude that we saw so ably demonstrated on the streets of Salford and Manchester last year have continued to achieve some truly positive and impressive outcomes.

And as the country seems to rediscover a sense of pride arising from the Olympics it seems to me a poignant time to reflect also on the pride we should feel in our own Service not only for what our courageous crews did last year, but in what all of our people have continued to do since.

We do love to be a bit cynical, us Brits, but it was impossible to fail to be anything other than proud and hugely impressed.

It showed our style, our culture, our sense of humour and our sense of occasion - and yes, I can recognise a political dimension but even that was a good thing.

Freedom of expression (within some boundaries of course) is a central plank of our values.

I also thought the Queen's part topped a perfect jubilee year for her which has altogether really embedded the importance and relevance of the monarchy for the next goodness knows how many years.

On a personal level it was a wee bit more poignant - my (late) brother was a mate of Danny Boyle's all through his time at school and in to sixth form (Thornleigh in Bolton) and indeed my mum worked alongside Danny's mum many many years ago in Radcliffe.

Our families have never kept in touch, so I am not pretending to be best friends or anything here (I haven't spoken to him since I was about 16) but it did make me reflect on the fact that there shouldn't be - and I don't think there are - limits on talent and ambition.

And people from very ordinary backgrounds and across all communities can achieve amazing things if they set their mind to it.

Danny was a geeky normal kid whose glasses always seemed about three times too big for his head. He was always cheerful and good fun and had an irrepressible enthusiasm.  

But the success of Friday night alongside his Oscar winning movie career must make him the hottest property in the world of media about now. 

Good on him - and I for one think if he does get the knighthood everyone is talking about then that can also only be a good thing for the honours system as well.

I did look this evening though and there are some great photos of Heywood Fire Station in Bloom. It looks great actually and some really hard work gone in to it.

Looking forward to spending the day on Bury Borough tomorrow and seeing the new station (we moved in last week).

We now know that a child has - tragically - perished at this incident.

Could I offer the sympathy and condolences of everyone in Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service to the family and loved ones affected.

You only have to look at the images in the media to realise that this is a scene of complete devastation.

Our crews have been doing a great job in difficult circumstances and continue to do so  - supported by the whole organisation; from the staff in our Control Centre to our Communications Team - dealing with enormous media interest.

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.