Guido has recently been disturbed to learn that the fire services are appointing non-fire service “managers” to the top posts. His friends in the service are in despair over this, and those that have to deal with some of the appointees are looking forward to working under them with more than some trepidation. Of course, this is all a consequence of the “modernisation” programme dreamed up by the Bain report, which, Guido finds, seems to be nothing more than a “cherry picking” of all the more contentious issues from previous reports and agendas. The “evidence” on which the Bain report is based seems to be highly suspicious and unsupported by fact – for example the issue of addressing “Community Fire Safety”, which is something most fire services have been engaged in under other titles for years.

What brought Guido’s hackles to full attention was the report in the Times on Saturday on the appointment of a no doubt well meaning and generally nice woman to the post of Chief Fire Officer – or whatever it is now called – of the County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service. At least she sounded sensible and nice until he got to the bit about her fire experience – and then she got insulting. This is not about being able to deal with “chip pan fires”, it is about being able to take command of, and responsibility for, the fire defence of the area her Service protects, about protecting the lives and property of the people of the County. There may well be chip pan fires to attend, but to belittle the service by suggesting that attendance at one or two such fires would give her professional credibility is not just insulting, it betrays her complete ignorance of what the Fire Service is all about.

What the morons of the Durham and Darlington Fire Authority were thinking of when they appointed her to this post is beyond comprehension. Her experience of marketing and as a Chief Executive of a business forum is not suitable preparation for the position she is now arrogantly assuming she can learn in five minutes. The job does not come with a convenient “Executive Summary” she can scan and assimilate before making life or death decisions.

An interesting question arises from this appointment, one which Guido was pointed to on the official website of the National Occupational Standards body for the fire service. The “role” of “Brigade Manager” contains the interesting requirement to “take command of major incidents and emergencies”. These Standards are also the basis of the personal development system which has been imposed by Prescott and his civil service minions, and which are the “competency” standards against which all promotions and appointments for all lower ranks are made. Has anyone seen Ms Johnson’s portfolio of competencies? Has she some hidden competency for the role of commander that the public and her new service are not aware of? Somehow Guido doubts this very much indeed.

Guido noted with interest that the Glasgow Herald has also picked this up and has an extremely critical view of both this appointment and the appointment of an accountant as the Deputy Chief of the Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service. The Herald article can be found here and makes the telling point that the way to address the “perceived” imbalances in the service is not to impose women at these senior levels, but to allow them to prove their ability in the normal way. This current PC “correct” way simply builds resentment and is harmful to everyone.

While these two appointments are the most high profile, there are several others which are likely to be equally controversial and can lead, eventually, to a complete breakdown of trust and discipline. The service acknowledges that it needed some modernisation; what has happened instead is that every lunatic idea has now been imposed, ably aided, it must be said, by the cretinous union leadership which attempted to hold this Labour government of Mafiosi to ransom. The result is likely to be a crippled service which is a laughing stock of the world, one led by arrogant “managers” who have no contact with fire fighters they do not understand and who do not trust or respect them. It is also extremely likely, as they rush headlong down a “management” by numbers and “bottom lines” route, that they will lose all professional and experienced officers in such areas as fire safety, fire prevention, and all that goes with those disciplines. The result will eventually be a catastrophic failure and multiple deaths – which will be blamed on the men they have so ably disenfranchised and demoted.

It is completely beyond Guido’s understanding to imagine how anyone can think that it is reasonable to appoint someone who has not got the professional experience or understanding to such a position, and then tell those under that person that, in an emergency, they must take the responsibility, while their “boss” takes the pay.

Durham’s new fire chief says you do not have to be a brain surgeon to run a hospital. Perhaps that’s why ours are in such a mess! According to figures released this week, there are now 551,000 “Administrators” and 580,000 “medical” staff which includes all the GPs, Consultants, nurses, and nurses aids! Guido is advised that the situation in the London Fire Brigade is approaching a similar situation, with a major shift over the last ten or fifteen years. Fifteen years ago the staffing level of the LFB/London Fire and Civil Defence Authority was of the order of 6,000 with a little over 5,000 of those “operational” personnel. Since then the number has increased steadily, but the “operational” or uniformed staff able to attend to emergency calls has been reduced to around 4,000. Nor is London unique in this.

Guido’s informants are, to a man (and one woman!) deeply concerned about the blighting effect this is having on their careers, but equally upon the quality of the service delivered. Skills and knowledge are being steadily lost, ever more restrictive “rules” are being imposed on a whole range of “operational” activities and uniformed staff are constantly under attack from the non-uniformed paper shufflers who castigate them for being “expensive” and “elitist”. Comments like those made by Durham’s new “chief” are fairly typical – and deeply insulting.

The author of the report in the Herald has it right when she says that the rise of the “Manager Culture” will eventually lead to a collapse in delivery as they strangle operations by their total lack of understanding of the operations they manage. The National Health Service is a perfect example of that “managerialist” culture run amok.

The only thing that exceeds the ignorance of those driving this and those who think they can do it better than the professionals is their arrogance. Let us hope that this arrogance does not result in a major catastrophy. Guido and his friends rather think it will.