Pole too Dangerous for Firemen
by Amy Iggulden

A fire station has been built without the traditional pole because of fears that firefighters could sprain their ankles as they hit the ground.

Senior managers at the three-storey station decided it was safer for them to run down two flights of stairs.

Officials blamed health and safety regulations and space constraints for the move. Firefighters said they were "flabbergasted" that the £2.4 million station, in Greenbank, Plymouth, had abandoned the tradition.

"It is ludicrous," said Ken Mulville, the station officer. "It takes about a second and a half to slide down the pole, as opposed to 15 or 20 seconds to run down two flights of stairs. Seconds can be critical when responding to a 999 call."

Bernard Hughes, the chairman of Devon Fire and Rescue Authority, said: "There have been a number of injuries when firefighters have slipped on poles and damaged their ankles and knees when they hit the floor."

But Mr Mulville said: "It is really sad. We used to have school visits and let the children go down the poles, but that stopped a few years ago. In more than 30 years I have seen one or two accidents with poles, compared with tens of accidents with people tripping on stairs while responding to incidents."
The Daily Telegraph, 5th August 2006

Editorial Comment:
Poles Apart

A fire station without a pole is a sorry place.

These gleaming shafts of brass may hark back to the days when fire engines were horse-drawn and firefighters lived above the stables, but they have never been supplanted. With pole, time from crew quarters to fire engine is about 1.5 seconds, depending on the drop. Without pole, anything up to 20 seconds down the stairs. For the firefighters at Plymouth's new Greenbank fire station, it's the stairs or nothing.

The health and safety police have decreed that the threat of turned ankles and wrenched knees cannot be ignored. So Greenbank is sans pole. The Fire Brigade Union, no slouch when it comes to protecting its members' interests (or lives), is peeved, arguing that running down the stairs is more fraught with risk than sliding down a pole.

May we make a suggestion? A Stannah stairlift would do the job nicely and in complete safety. And while we're about it, do firefighters seriously suppose they can continue using ladders? Such wanton recklessness. Properly secured scaffolding with a safety rail should be de rigueur. And what about all these high-pressure hosepipes? Quite lethal in the wrong hands. No. The FBU really must shape up and become more safety conscious. Doesn't it realize it's playing with fire?
The Daily Telegraph, 5th August 2006