Firefighters: Mental Health Support

Debate between Emma Dent Coad and Janet Daby

Tuesday 18th December 2018 Westminster Hall

[Emma Dent Coad (Kensington) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered mental health support for firefighters.

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak out on behalf of members of the fire service. In so doing, I do not wish for a moment to minimise the effect of shock and trauma on our other emergency services, or on the victims, the bereaved and survivors, for whom I hope to speak out at a future date.

We must never underestimate the potential danger of untreated or poorly treated mental health issues. Nearly half the 39 people who died in an accidental fire in 2017, excluding Grenfell, had mental health issues. I am personally devastated to have to report that very recently, a member of our community in north Kensington has sadly taken their life. We have all failed that person, their family and their friends.

I was acquainted with several firefighters before the terrible events of 14 June last year, and since then I have spoken to many others. As a councillor in Kensington and Chelsea, I was active during a cross-party campaign in 2012-13 against the fire service cuts of the previous Mayor of London. I visited our fire stations and spoke to their teams. I analysed breakdowns of response times to specific fires from specific fire stations. I looked in detail at fire deaths statistics, which, though diminishing, reflected a new method of calculation that meant that only those poor souls who died on the scene of a fire were counted, not those who died subsequently in hospital.

In submissions to the then Mayor, we demanded that particular stations under pressure were not closed and that staff budgets were not cut. Most of our demands fell on deaf ears, although it seems that our campaign to save north Kensington fire station from closure was heard, as it was saved. The red watch from that station was first on the ground at the Grenfell Tower fire.

Following the cross-party work I carried out in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, I was appointed by the current Mayor of London to the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. During my time there, we monitored pilot schemes on co-responding, whereby firefighters respond to medical emergencies, particularly cardiac arrests, when an ambulance is not available. Co-responding is unpopular among firefighters, not only because their responsibilities increased as their pay was frozen, but because they were concerned about a lack of training to deal with some of the issues that they were called to deal with.

Some felt it was inefficient to send a fire engine worth half a million pounds to a medical emergency purely because it was equipped with a defibrillator. Many told me that they were emotionally unprepared for some of the things they had to deal with, such as suicides. One told me of an incident where, for 40 minutes, while waiting for an ambulance, they carried out resuscitation on a child who had clearly already died. That officer told me that they had been put on light duties for a long period while they struggled to process what had happened.

I have talked to many of the firefighters who attended Grenfell Tower, many of whom are still struggling emotionally and some of whom may choose to leave active duty altogether. I have had a full briefing from the London fire brigade and I am aware of the new focus on mental health awareness, which is fully supported by the commissioner.

[Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

Do you agree that stress, anxiety and depression are now common features in the fire service—especially the London fire service—according to organisational listings? That should not be the case.

[Emma Dent Coad]

I concur absolutely with my hon. Friend. The London fire brigade has appointed additional counsellors and set up Mind blue light champions, who are volunteers from within the service who can signpost colleagues to the counselling and trauma service.

[Emma Dent Coad]

I concur absolutely with the hon. Gentleman.

I hear that firefighters who came from fire stations near the fire are getting a higher standard of care than those from further afield. Call centre staff—many of whom spoke to people trapped by the fire, as we heard during the inquiry—are also traumatised, and some are not getting the support they need.

Let us remember that more than 300 firefighters were involved in the rescue attempt at Grenfell, and that it was not one single, terrible, catastrophic event. The fire raged for more than 12 hours, in which firefighters continually risked their lives in their attempt to save the lives of others. Some of the scenes they saw, and the choices they had to make, are with them every day.

Despite that, the psychological help that those brave men and women, including the call centre and support staff, so clearly need is very uneven. Some have received talking therapy. I have previously told the House that I have received that treatment myself, and it did not help me at all, although I accept it may help others. That treatment is available within the fire service.

Some people have been fortunate enough to receive eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing therapy, which I am told has been helpful, but it is usually available only from the Fire Fighters Charity, so capacity is limited—we are dependent on charity. Some have had very little treatment. I am told that many firefighters from stations across London who attended the fire have not had the support they need, and certainly not the emotional support from the community that many local officers have benefited from.

Three days after the fire, I dropped into one of our fire stations late at night. I drank tea and heard their stories. The team, who had fought back-to-back shifts on Tuesday and Wednesday, had had no time off. All leave had been cancelled. They were emotionally drained and physically exhausted. All I could think was, “Where is the back-up they’d need if there was another Ladbroke Grove train crash now?”. The terrible answer is that there is none.

Cuts to frontline staff mean that, even after a disaster such as Grenfell, there may be no capacity for compassionate leave. While nearly 20% of staff have been lost since 2010, incidents have decreased by just 12%, so fewer operational firefighting staff are attending more incidents each.

[Janet Daby]

Even though the Government continue to state that a decrease in staffing is based on demand, do you agree that incidents have increased by 14% since 2014? We need to invest more in our fire services and our emergency services.

[Emma Dent Coad]

I concur absolutely with my hon. Friend; thank you.

Pay restraint and a squeeze on pensions mean that many firefighters have to work second jobs on their days off to pay their household bills. My specific experience relates to the London fire brigade, but I am aware that those issues affect fire services across the country.